The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline 3600 Huck Brake shoes from other brands

On another thread this morning (hey Carl) I mentioned nos shoes possibly working better than new reproduction shoes on Huck brake systems. Due to my inability to find a set of nos front shoes for my '51 3600 I'm wondering if another truck brand shoe might work. If so it'd give a larger search window and increase one's chance of finding a set. You'd think GMC would work, but what about Ford, IH, ???. Even if one had to drill an appropriate hole or perhaps settle for just shoe lining that would swap between brands the likelihood of finding the proverbial chicken tooth would increase..

RonR

I've had old brake shoes relined. Found a place in Savannah and mailed them to them. Ya know I've still got all my old brake parts I could share them... Ya Know I'm putting Disc on and have a bunch of old 3600 brake parts.

Julian, thanks for the generous offer! However I can get shoes easily through the local NAPA, it's just that they'er lined with the current "safe" non-carcinogenic material. While obvious much safer for us, I suspect the original asbestos based linings would work/stop better. Looking to give it a try.

And yes, I'm aware of the risk of working with asbestos. I'm not however worried since it's one truck, not a shop full of trucks and I'll hopefully only adjust the brakes a couple times a year while taking proper precautions.

And good luck with the disk brake upgrade. My plans are; try a set of NOS shoes, then decide if I want to go to a booster and keep the rest original.

Not necessarily apples to apples, but I had a 77 Jeep CJ5 with a 304 and slightly larger wheels/tires. No brake booster. With everything working at it's best it had terrible brakes. Bough a used booster off Ebay for $20 bucks, installed and it was a night and day improvement. Don't see why you couldn't see similar results with our trucks. Others had reported they were happy with only the booster upgrade. We'll see.

RonR

I have what I believe to be NOS Huck shoes in my giant debris pile (also known as the inventory of my empire) somewhere. My next move to try to improve my braking issue is to try them. I currently have modern replacement Huck shoes on my truck.
I am not concerned that the NOS shoes contain asbestos as long as I am careful not to blow the parts clean with compressed air, nor if I do not grind them in an attempt to make the arcs match to the drums.
I will report back with results. It will be a while.
Carl

Both my 1 Ton truck and my 38 Master have modern type material with huck brakes and they work really well.

Somewhere I have an old GM trade magazine article that shows a mechanic blowing off all the dirt from the front shoes with an air hose. It is a 40s publication.

I did the huck brake shoes from Rock auto. They also work fine................but they are still drum brakes...........likely some of this stuff is all from the same supplier?

Later I did the power assist with disk up front.



The guy blowing brakes off is now the poster guy for mesothelioma ????

"I suspect the original asbestos based linings would work/stop better."

Ron,

There is absolutely no question that asbestos friction is more effective than the current "organic" stuff. I learned this from a local brake parts supplier. I went in there seeking to improve the braking on my '32 Ford roadster street rod. They could have easily sold me expensive drilled and/or slotted rotors, ceramic friction, etc. Being the rare honest business men they are they suggested swapping my organic friction for asbestos friction. That was like adding a booster to the unboosted system, and that is no exaggeration.

Another thing that yielded a huge improvement was arc grinding the shoe linings in the 8" Ford rear end. The front is Chevy Malibu/El Camino "metric" calipers/pads that just happen to work perfectly with Aspen/Volare rotors that fit the early Ford spindles and have the same lug stud pattern as the Ford rear.

The last time I posted this same informaton the thought control patrol was generous of its criticism of me for mentioning friction that is now illegal to use in manufacturing brakes and clutches but not illegal to buy, sell or own if you can find it. It's all over ebay. I also got an earful about suggesting arc grinding. It's pretty amazing how seriously some people take themselves.

Your common sense makes it clear to you that there is a difference between working 8 hours/day for 40 years in a brake shop breathing asbestos dust and doing some occasional brake maintenance in your home shop. At age 74 it's anyobody's guess how much time I have left but I have zero worry that it will be my asbestos clutch and brake friction that gets me.

Good luck!

I must have lucked out when I redone the Hucks on my 49 as I used brake shoes and wheel cylinder cups (rubber seals) from O'reilly's and they work very good. IIRC they were fairly inexpensive, like $20-$25 an axle. They've got alittle over 22K on them now and don't need replacement yet.

Fitting brake linings to the radius of the drum isn't rocket science. All it takes is a strip of sandpaper glued to the inside of a brake drum and a little time and patience. If you just have to have illegal brake material, it's all over Ebay in rolls that can be cut to fit and riveted onto your brake shoes. Most of the sellers there have no idea they're violating Federal laws. There's no amount of sarcastic pontificating that is going to change the law.
Jerry

Some pertinent information here ----> https://www.epa.gov/asbestos/us-federal-bans-asbestos

What are you using for your disc brake parts? I have a 47 (late) 3/4 ton, that I would LOVE to put discs on - if I knew what I needed to make the swap!

Soggy,

Thank you so much for posting that information. The portion of it copied below indicates that clutch and brake friction materials are not presently banned from use:

"Examples of asbestos-containing products not banned

The manufacture, importation, processing and distribution in commerce of the following products, as well as some others not listed, are not banned. However, in June 2018 EPA took action by proposing a significant new use rule (SNUR) that would prohibit these uses. View the proposed SNUR.

Cement corrugated sheet
Cement flat sheet
Clothing
Pipeline wrap
Roofing felt
Vinyl floor tile
Cement shingle
Millboard
Cement pipe
Automatic transmission components
Clutch facings
Friction materials
Disk brake pads
Drum brake linings
Brake blocks
Gaskets
Non-roofing coatings
Roof coatings"

I'm a geologist not a lawyer, but even if there were a ban, the ban would be on "The manufacture, importation, processing and distribution in commerce". The tiny amount of these products used in antique vehicle brake and clutch friction materials would hardly qualify as "The manufacture, importation, processing and distribution in commerce".

To me arguing about this is like arguing about adjusting the carburetors on "non-adjustable" gasoline powered tools like chain saws, string trimmers and leaf blowers. Making those adjustments is illegal according to one of the know-it-all experts on the Tool Shed Forum. But the internet is loaded with information on exactly how to expose the adjustment screws that come from the factory with access blocked by various pressed in plugs and other means. The tiny number of do-it-yourselfers researching and making these unauthorized modifications wouldn't ever rise to the level of becoming a law enforcement priority. I, of course, would never consider making any such modifications or telling others about how they improve performance and yield cooler running and increased longevity.