8N2027 brake shoe spring anchors

I've answered a few email questions lately about ill fitting 8N brake shoe anchors and spring binding problems when installing new brake shoes and springs. So I've taken a couple pictures and will post the info here, just FYI for anyone else who has run into that.

The first half of 8N tractors built (to serial 248839) came with a brake shoe that had a single thickness web. After that serial number all came with a double thickness reinforced web. All new brake shoes made since have been the double thickness and the old singles are pretty much non existant today. Here's a picture of the two.



The extra thickness of the newer shoe web requires a longer version of the 8N2027(A) spring anchor. The longer version is 8N2027B. Here's a picture of the two.



The early anchor is about 1-3/4" long and the later replacement is nearly 2" long. The extra length is on the inside end for the double thickness on the shoe web. If the early short anchor is used with the double thickness shoes (which is all we have today) it gets stuck at an angle in the shoe and the spring is pulled closer to center and can bind on the bolt heads. It also makes it a lot harder to install the springs. This picture shows the short anchor in a double shoe (L) and the correct "B" longer anchor (R) which fits correctly.



If you're having problems getting the anchors to fit the shoe correctly, measure them. You probably have the early anchors and you need the later ones. Half the 8Ns sold had the short anchors, so many of them have never been upgraded. I've also been told some new replacements being sold aftermarket are the old short versions and are not the (B) length that they should be. I've never bought any so I can't confirm that. Here's a section of a 1950 dealer service bulletin that notified the dealers of the change.



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John, Thanks for posting this infor. I have not
experienced this exact problem. Will bookmark
this.

Could have used this about a month ago when I was doing my brakes, now I'm wondering if mine are in correctly, guess I will pull my drums and see before I get my wheels on. They act ok with the pedals and appear to retract ok, but now I'm curious. Did have the double thickness shoes and my tractor is an early 8N.

I always install new hold down hardware on this old chit... I only wanna do it once :wink: the second time is on my dime :wink: :wink: ... If have to handle the old hardware I marry it if I am gonna marry it its gonna be new hardware..

I keep new hardware on the shelf TISCO and Sparex both are the longer version... A&I I dunno I never liked there cheap junk...

Folks can dream up some real good fix's on brake issues but its only a dream they get to keep there guru patch... Thanks for the in-depth real fix to a possible issue...

I used your site to to put new seals and brake shoes on my 49 8n about 7yrs ago.It stops like a new one now and I've never had a problem with them hanging. I do remember those springs being tough to put back on though. Thanks for what you do John sure saved me a lot of time and trouble.

It's not a big deal. If it assembled ok you likely have no problem. The big complaint is that the anchor doesn't fit right in the shoe which makes the spring hard to get on, and bumping the anchor will cause it to fall out the back side repeatedly when you're trying to get the spring on. It would be simpler to just say "make sure you have the longer anchors", but I figured some people would want to know WHY they need different anchors than the tractor had originally.