The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline handling brakes with asbestos?

hello,
i'm getting ready to start a restoration on a '54 Chevy pick up the brake shoes that are on there right now are more than likely the oem or shoes that still have a high amount of asbestos my question is how should i go about handling these brakes and dust and how do i safely dispose of them?
i apologize in advance if this is in the wrong area. i haven't found much information on how to handle the brakes
thank you for reading

As far as I know, the issue with asbestos is the dust and the inhalation risk. Not tough to address: when you work on the brakes, wear an inhalation mask (something with filters on it, tight sealing - not just one of those 25-cent masks that cover your mouth and nose). Keep in mind the dust will migrate to your clothes as well, so I'd probably blow myself clean while wearing the mask, then walk away from the cloud before removing the mask.

Times to be cautious are if you sand/scuff/wire wheel the drums to clean them up, thereby spreading brake dust into the air, or using shop air to blow clean the brakes. Also, if you choose to drill out the rivets to remove the pads yourself, same issue. You can always have the brake shop remove the pads from the shoes for you (at a slightly added expense). Either way, as for disposal, I don't know for sure - I'd probably just chuck 'em, but I suppose there may be a more environmentally sound answer. Heck - take 'em to the brake shop - they'll know what to do.

It's really more of a multi-exposure risk, but it's cumulative, so no point in being careless.

Hope this helps. -Michael

thank for the response Michael it is very helpful just wanted to make sure before hand.

About 25 years ago, all sorts of Rube Goldberg devices were sold to shops to supposedly minimize exposure to asbestos dust during brake work. The term "Tempest in a Teacup" comes to mind, unless somebody is going to make a living restoring these old brake systems 8-10 hours a day, every day. Simply wetting down the brake parts with a mist of water will drastically reduce any exposure to airborne dust, and whatever minimal exposure you happen to get will be far below any threshold of danger I can imagine. Once the brake system is cleaned up once, the risk is pretty much nonexistent once the newer style brakes with minimal asbestos content are installed. Don't get stupid, but be aware that most of the risk hype is way exaggerated.

It was amazing just how panicky people got about disposal of vacuum cleaner bags and wash water or solvent once the residue was captured. You'd think we were handling nuclear waste or something! A lot of people made a lot of money setting up hazardous waste disposal schemes and trying to convince shops to buy their services!
Jerry

I was going to suggest just washing them off with a very good degreasing solvent and garden hose. You will stay clean when replacing them and zero dust, but then someone is going to come along and tell you your driveway is contaminated with hazards waste and you have to move out of the country for doing it.

Joe

Ya know...I've always wondered what happen to all the worn off
brake shoe residue from all the worn out brakes on all the
worn out cars that have been depositing it along side the
roads for the last 100 years? Gotta be a billion tons of
asbestos dust dumped there by now.

dg

I remember the procedure in the garage industry in the old days. Take the drums off and blow everything away with compressed air, no mask or anything. How crazy is that?

Don't forget we were washing our parts bare handed in a five
gallon bucket of tetraethyl lead regular, suckin' on a Lucky
all day and never worn a seat belt unless we'ed been in an
airplane or a real race car. Filing lead was the body
shapers way of making magic, Bondo was still a ways off.
Lead solders made on the kitchen stove in the same pan that
we used for the Campbell's soup and the neatest thing was
to break a mercury thermometer and play with it rolling
around in your palm.
How did we do it!!!!
I always did the family's brakes and some others on the side
to make a little spending money. Cleaning procedure was an
old paint brush and the air hose.
Now just because I've made it to 72 doesn't mean that I'm not
gonna come down with the bug if I live another 28 years.

All that said, we dint know any better back then, now a days
there's no excuse, a little older and a little wiser and
common sense goes a long way with the information at our
disposal now.

dg

Years ago I Lived up in Washington state, they were trying to passed a law few years back regarding washing your vehicle in the driveway and I quote from the article reason why they wanted it:

Washing your car or boat in the driveway or street is a residential ritual as American as backyard barbecues. But the state of Washington is telling its local governments they must prohibit home car washing unless residents divert the wash water away from storm drains, where they say it causes water pollution.

"I understand this is something people have done for a long time," says Bill Moore, water quality specialist with the Washington state Department of Ecology, which is requiring the ban. "It's not something we should be doing any longer."

He says the soapy runoff is toxic to salmon and other fish and that small metal particles that wash off cars, such as brake dust, is harmful, too

End quote

How many of us went to school in the '50's when the old WWII surplus barracks buildings were routinely used as overflow class rooms? The gray shingle siding and no doubt flooring material used asbestos fiber as part od a binding agent. What about the zillions of miles of electrical wiring insulation...also asbestos insulated. What about the millions of square feet of asbestos bound flooring products used in homes, public buildings and elsewhere? I have little doubt asbestos is less than a perfect option, on the other hand with the millions of people exposed over many years, wouldn't it be reasonable to expect far more people suffering from the exposure? A close friend of mine worked 40+ years as a mechanic, many of those as a brake specialist for GM dealerships. He tells about using air hoses to clean the linings. He's almost 80 and wonders what all the fuss is about too.

My brother made a very good living working on court cases near Baltimore (ship yards), litigating (for the ship builders) private settlements with the workers dying from asbestosis.

He worked on a few old vehicles and he did not even want to chance inhaling asbestos brake linings.

Better safe than sorry - it is so simple to wear a mask and clean your work clothes.

Mike addresses, in the first reply, prudent precautions that are quite easy to do.

Agreed. As I stated, there are better options, but also as stated, given the much much larger exposure from a variety of uses beyond shipyards etc, I think it a fair question why not many many more incidents of health problems. Furthermore; and I am near certain it has been argued in other venues, could there there be other additional environmental factors. I do not know for a scientifically proven fact either way. All I'm saying is, I do not know and I doubt anyone else does either. In the mean time, take precautions, but take with a grain of salt all the hype otherwise.

as long as the dust is not air born its not dangerious unless you make it airborn wet the area with water. I have asbestos at work and when its airborn no mask will keep it from entering your body unless its the HEPA and designed for it. When I make repairs with insulation on water pipes and boilers. I first put a bag around it called a glove bag. then wet the area do my repair and secure my trash. If you are doing it in a closed area you need to have positive ventilation and or a HEPA Vac to trap the dust. I have taken the classes many times and have been certified for maintenance and not removal. I have never done it for this type of senerio but on piping and if its too big for me I call the pro's.

I know its everywhere the poor check points guys like crossing the border with the stop and go those guys really get exposure along with the street vendors.

I hope I did not scare anyone but when I doubt let someone else do it.

When I worked in a service shop, it was standard practice to hose the shoes/ drums down with a garden hose before we worked on them.

We also wore Nitrile gloves when working on them.