641 New Brake Shoes, Not Holding

KCTractors · Oct 14, 2018

I replaced a set of brake shoes on a 641. The drum was not in bad shape. I adjusted the shoes up and the wheel is hard to turn and the brakes arn't worth a darn. What the H is going on! I had the drum off twice and I can not see the problem. It's probably that China sh-t again.

Dean · Oct 14, 2018

Not really uncommon.

Could be linings do not match drums due to drum wear but not likely due to steel (rather than cast iron) drums used on vintage Fords. In the day, it was just about mandatory that new automotive linings be cam ground such that the linings matched the drums after turning drums but NOBODY does that these days.

More than likely, the wearing surfaces of the brake cams and/or shoes are worn such that less leverage is applied by the pedal. This is quite common. The cure is weld up and grind back to OEM dimensions.

Are the shoes new or relined. Most of the shoes that are returned for relining are badly worn at the wearing surfaces.

Dean

Dollar Bill · Oct 15, 2018

Dean gave you excellent advice regarding your braking dilemma.

To verify you have full shoe-to-drum contact, insert shoe as in pix. Arc the shoe with a belt sander to obtain full contact.

641 New Brake Shoes, Not Holding

KCTractors

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Dean

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Dollar Bill

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