Alright fellows...who would be your no.1 choice in brake tool/s? I want to purchase a top quality universal spring removal/installer set if that is how they're bought. The local parts houses around here offer junk. No more vise grips and getting creative with a screwdriver as leverage for me. thank you.
In a previous life, I was a mobile brake repair man. All I ever needed for drum bakes were these two tools. That and whatever adjuster I felt like using.
Don't buy the cheap brake spring pliers. Mine folded in half the first time I used it. Bought one by Lisle for like $30 and it was much stronger, and worked great.
Don't buy the cheap brake spring pliers. Mine folded in half the first time I used it. Bought one by Lisle for like $30 and it was much stronger, and worked great.
Alright don't want cheap for sure. Have had plenty of busted knuckles over the years.
Any reputable auto parts store. People do still work on drum brakes even in today’s disc brake world so the tools are not rare, yet.ðŸ›
Martin '62 Chevy C-10 Stepside Shortbed (Restomod in progress) '47 Chevy 3100 5 Window (long term project) ‘65 Chevy Biscayne (Emily) ‘39 Dodge Business Coupe (Clarence) “I fought the law and the law won" now I are a retired one! Support those brave men/women who stand the "Thin Blue Line"! Hug a cop! USAF 1965-1969 Weather Observation Tech (I got paid to look at the clouds)
NAPA part numbers: 15 piece brake service set SER41520 and 8 piece brake service set OTC6516. Surly you have a NAPA store in Tennessee.
Martin '62 Chevy C-10 Stepside Shortbed (Restomod in progress) '47 Chevy 3100 5 Window (long term project) ‘65 Chevy Biscayne (Emily) ‘39 Dodge Business Coupe (Clarence) “I fought the law and the law won" now I are a retired one! Support those brave men/women who stand the "Thin Blue Line"! Hug a cop! USAF 1965-1969 Weather Observation Tech (I got paid to look at the clouds)
As usual, there are two kinds of brake tools- - - -"Snap-On" and "other". I'd pick a used Snap-On brake tool from Ebay over a brand new tool of most other brands. 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!
Those Napa kits have a lot of unnecessary tools in them specific to disc brakes. Handy to have, though, if you are rebuilding rear disc brakes with internal parking brakes in them. A lot of the early GM stuff had to have the piston screwed back in before you could put new pads on. IF they were working correctly in the first place.
When you use the Lisle or Snap On scissor tool correctly, you will never bust another knuckle again. Almost takes the fun out of it. I almost never used the small end. The cup on one arm of the tool is for removing springs, the other "spoon" arm for installing springs. They give you plenty of leverage. You probably would rarely have to pull and stretch any spring to get it over a pin or hook with that small scissor end. They make a bigger version for heavy trucks. But most of the time, a heavy truck can be done with a single pry bar. Especially S-cam foundation brakes. The handled tool is for the hold down cups and springs. But a lot of the time, you can push down on the cup and twist the pin from the back of the backing plate.
This guy made me laugh, but here's how you use the tool:
The "plier" part of the brake tool is for handling springs on Lockheed brakes- - - -the ones with a single long spring that connects to both brake shoes just below the wheel cylinder. Chevy-only mechanics can almost be excused for not knowing or caring about that system, since they were mostly used on early Ford and MOPAR vehicles. 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!
The "plier" part of the brake tool is for handling springs on Lockheed brakes- - - -the ones with a single long spring that connects to both brake shoes just below the wheel cylinder. Chevy-only mechanics can almost be excused for not knowing or caring about that system, since they were mostly used on early Ford and MOPAR vehicles. Jerry
Yup. I've had to use them on trailers and such. The big pliers I've had to use on some Navistar stuff. But, since we were on a Chevy site........
For our modern fleet, an impact gun will get most brakes done. Which will either be what Ford makes, or what International makes. And usually, sockets in millimeter.
