1932 SC Front Wheel Bearing

[Touringcuda]

I want to pull the front brake drums to inspect the shoes. The bearing cover is an 8 sided stamping.

I looks to me like you would tap it side to side to loosen for removal.

With a dead blow hammer I gave it several opposing hits but no movement.

Do I need to hit harder or am I approaching the task wrong?

Sometimes we over thing the problem. I do not want to destroy anything.

 

Thanks in advance

Bob

[F&J]

28 minutes ago, Touringcuda said:

or am I approaching the task wrong?

Yes, as most early cars have threaded grease /bearing caps, especially if they have 6 or 8 sided shapes.  The car came with a tool for that, but anything will work.  They should be right hand threads from what I've seen in 50 years.

[keiser31]

19 hours ago, Touringcuda said:

I want to pull the front brake drums to inspect the shoes. The bearing cover is an 8 sided stamping.

I looks to me like you would tap it side to side to loosen for removal.

With a dead blow hammer I gave it several opposing hits but no movement.

Do I need to hit harder or am I approaching the task wrong?

Sometimes we over thing the problem. I do not want to destroy anything.

 

Thanks in advance

Bob

Got a photo of what you are trying to remove? If it looks similar to the cap on here, you need a wrench to unscrew it.

Edited May 12, 2021 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[Touringcuda]

Thanks for the help. 🙂

That looks a lot like my front wheel except for the lug nuts.

When we got the car it needed new tires. We had 4 flats the first year. Bad tubes. Coker replaced tubes no charge.

I bought 4 bolts (9/16 fine thread I if I remember correctly) cut off the heads and slotted them for a screw driver. It made it a lot easier changing tires.

Did Dodge always have lug nuts? Were they left hand on one side and right hand on the other?

Now I have to find someone to reline my shoes.

 

Bob

[keiser31]

23 hours ago, Touringcuda said:

Thanks for the help. 🙂

That looks a lot like my front wheel except for the lug nuts.

When we got the car it needed new tires. We had 4 flats the first year. Bad tubes. Coker replaced tubes no charge.

I bought 4 bolts (9/16 fine thread I if I remember correctly) cut off the heads and slotted them for a screw driver. It made it a lot easier changing tires.

Did Dodge always have lug nuts? Were they left hand on one side and right hand on the other?

Now I have to find someone to reline my shoes.

 

Bob

The original nuts look more like the shiny "R" one at the upper right corner....and yes, right handed and left handed....

[Touringcuda]

Sorry for delay in reposting.

I removed the drivers side front brake drum and found that 1 of the rivet heads, on the front facing shoe, was beginning to lightly score the drum.

The adjacent rivet on the shoe was just starting to touch, (shiny). The other 6 rivets on this shoe still had a good bit of lining remaining.

The rear facing shoe was fine with lining thickness over all 8 rivets comparable to the 6 good rivets on the front facing shoe.  

I appears that the troubling rivet was not counterbored deep enough when the lining was replaced. When we got the car back in 2011 I was told the brakes had been done which is probably true.

The passenger side front shoe lining is fine with lots of, (half ?) lining left.

We have put close to 10,000 miles on it since then. It would appear that maybe 20,000 miles might be a normal expectancy of front shoe wear?

I pulled the rear hubs last year to troubleshoot a hot rear drum and it was just a shoe that was hung up on a clip. The rear shoes looked almost new.

 

I have attached pictures of the brakes.

 

Should I replace the lining on,

     both front brakes

     drivers side front

     just the lining where rivet is an issue

 

I may have located a local shop to reline shoes.

Front facing lining is 1 1/2" wide by 11 3/4" long.

Rear facing lining is 1 1/2" wide by 10 1/2 long.

Drum is 11 " diameter.

I used 0 - 1 mics to rough gauge lining thickness. Front facing lining checked close to rivet top to bottom (lining still on shoe)  0.285      0.260     0.280    0.300

Maybe original lining 3/16 ?  Does this sound right?

 

I now know to remove drums and inspect brakes for wear at least every other year.

 

And as an added question both rear facing shoes on front brakes have an approximately  .030" shim under the lining. Is this common to achieve a certain diameter overall?  

 

Thanks in advance

Bob

 

[F&J]

On ‎6‎/‎19‎/‎2021 at 3:26 PM, Touringcuda said:

Should I replace the lining on,

     both front brakes

     drivers side front

     just the lining where rivet is an issue

Lining material from different manufacturers often differ in gripping ability.  Soft linings wear faster but stop easier; hard linings wear slower but need more pedal pressure to stop the same as soft linings.  So any shop will be correct in saying that all linings should be replaced on any "axle"; meaning do all 4 on the front axle to get balanced braking from both sides of that axle.

 

An experienced brake shop that knows vintage cars should be able to suggest the correct brake lining material for your vintage car with manual brakes.  They also should want to know if the drums are cast iron, or if they are pressed steel, as both types used different material on their linings.

On ‎6‎/‎19‎/‎2021 at 3:26 PM, Touringcuda said:

And as an added question both rear facing shoes on front brakes have an approximately  .030" shim under the lining. Is this common to achieve a certain diameter overall?  

 

Brake lining shim stock was once commonly in use for older cars with drums that were worn very oversize from many miles or from being re-machined too many times. The curve of any brake shoe must match the curve inside it's brake drum.  Back in the day, shim stock was added under the new linings to have the linings match the drum curve.  I have no idea why they did not shim both linings on each front brake.

 

To get your car brakes redone properly, you should also bring your drums to the brake shop when you bring your brake linings, so they can fit the linings to them.  The laws changed since the old shim days; shops normally won't use an old drum if it is worn more than .060" from new specs.  But, if new drums are not available, maybe shimming is your only choice "if" the shop is willing to do that.