Big road trip coming up so I checked my brake shoes.
On Huck brakes, they they normally wear the front shoes more than the rear ones?
Can you swap them (front to back -- on each wheel) to get a little more wear out of them before you have to send them off for relining?
Jim Carter's folks are telling me it will be three weeks or so for them to reline my shoes and get them back to me, which is too close to roadtrip time. I figured I could just swap the shoes around, get one more trip done and then send them off for relining. Or is that a bad plan ... ??
Back in the dark ages, Huck brakes were notorious for only wearing out one lining. Flat rate mechanics would only change one shoe of a pair on a brake job, and hide the other one. After a few of those "one-shoe" brake jobs, he would have enough new parts to do a brake job on his own car, or maybe do an "off-the-books" brake job at home on a weekend. If the lining length and other dimensions of the shoes are the same front to rear, I don't see much of a downside to swapping the shoes to equalize the wear pattern. Be aware that there might be a "wear-in" period with less than 100% stopping ability while the linings establish a new wear pattern in the drums. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Wow, what a coincidence! I'm going through the same thing at the moment. At least with the 3800, all you get at the parts houses are either outright laughter or a blank stare. My local NAPA, who has been supporting me for 20 years now on all this stuff, is sending mine to a relining specialist in Baltimore. All I have to do is tell them how thick I want the new linings ... Yeah right.
Anyone know what the originals were? 3/8" ? 1/4" ??
~ John
A kid raised on Hotwheels, Matchbox and Tonka cannot be reasonably expected to own only one vehicle as an adult.
1949 Chevrolet 3804 In the Legacy Gallery | In the Gallery Forum 1973 IH 1310 Dump 1963 Kaiser M38A1 2001 International/AmTran RE3000 "Skoolie" 2014 Ford E-350 4x4 (Quigley)
On Huck brakes the two shoes are not the same. The one with the shorter material goes to the front and the one with the longer goes to the rear on each wheel. See attached pic of '46 rear brakes. They are not interchangable.
Good point, David. It might be OK to swap positions for a short time, but I wouldn't recommend it long term. Apparently, Bendix brakes aren't the only ones with primary and secondary shoes, but with the shoes anchored at the bottom on the Hucks, I doubt if there would be as much of a difference in stopping ability with the shoes reversed as with the floating-bottom Bendix system. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
I have never seen Huck shoes with short linings. I have only seen what I believe were original, early replacements, NOS shoes, or those offered by Classicparts.com. They were always full length lining. I am wondering if someone got the idea that it would make sense to put a shorter lining on one of the shoes like they do on Bendix setups. If this is the case, I have to wonder if that is a good idea, considering the vast difference in how Huck brakes articulate compared to how Bendix articulate. BIG difference in action between those two designs. In my humble, non-expert opinion, I want as much shoe to drum contact as I can get on my Huck brakes. I am not concerned with uneven wear between the pairs of shoes. Carl
1952 5-window - return to "as built" condition | 1950 3100 with a 235 and a T-5 transmission
The discussion referred to above is not talking about Huck brakes , I believe. They talk about the servo action. The Huck brake shoes that I have worked with on my vehicles have shoes that are identical.
The picture in the link above is definitely of a Huck brake, but like others have stated, it's the first one I've ever seen with unequal length linings. That can't be an OEM type lining, probably done by a rebuilder somewhere that didn't have the right lining material on hand. Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
FWIW, the shoes I just took off my truck are identical front to back (on each wheel).
~ John
A kid raised on Hotwheels, Matchbox and Tonka cannot be reasonably expected to own only one vehicle as an adult.
1949 Chevrolet 3804 In the Legacy Gallery | In the Gallery Forum 1973 IH 1310 Dump 1963 Kaiser M38A1 2001 International/AmTran RE3000 "Skoolie" 2014 Ford E-350 4x4 (Quigley)
My 1946 Huck shoes are the same size. I have attached a page from a catalog showing the exploded view of the Huck brakes. Notice both shoes have the same part number. Harold
Good call on the zip-tied wheel cylinder, John! That's Jarhead engineering at its finest! LOL! Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt! There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
Jerry -- "If it's stupid but it works, it isn't stupid."
Thanks for the file, Harold -- Even though its a '46, still close enough to guide me when my shoes return from the reliner and I have to reassemble everything.
~ John
A kid raised on Hotwheels, Matchbox and Tonka cannot be reasonably expected to own only one vehicle as an adult.
1949 Chevrolet 3804 In the Legacy Gallery | In the Gallery Forum 1973 IH 1310 Dump 1963 Kaiser M38A1 2001 International/AmTran RE3000 "Skoolie" 2014 Ford E-350 4x4 (Quigley)
TY-raps hold the world together, LOL... I use a ty-rap to hold the adjusters in and a couple more to hold the shoes together while I muscle the top spring into place, works good lasts along time LOL.
Never saw a short pad on a Huck brake shoe, they've always been the same size and same part number. Course I've not seen every Huck brake setup either.... Now I have seen it on Bendix brakes....
Yeah right. 
