The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Tons 'o Fun One ton brake drums

Hello bolters, I have been following with interest the advice given about removing stubborn rear brake drums. My truck was unforgiving in my efforts to remove the drums. Friends in the area advised me to back off the brakes, use the slots and don't use any pulling devises. Trouble is there were no slots in the back plates to adjust the brakes. There were two "bolt" stubs on either side of the brake line coming in. These had a washer and a spring under the bolt head and a screwdriver slot across the head. The drivers side drum bolts were loose and by wiggling them, they fell away into my hand. I was surprised, being so loose that they were even still with the truck. The reason I called them "bolt" stubs is because there is no thread but an end that was flattened on opposing sides and swaged into something inside the brake.
With no way of backing off the brake I made some maple wedges and forced them in around the drum and made a puller out of white oak for the beam and long bolts for the grabber arms. 3/4" all thread with nuts for the center piece along with a strap around the bolts and drum finished the job. Inside the drum I found a broken spring in two pieces and two adjuster "stars" floating around and doing damage to the drum. Even if the adjusters were operable the wheel cylinders on both rear drums were remnants of the petrified forest out west. So the gear puller gizmo was the only means of success.
Now that the drums have been successfully turned and cylinders rebuilt I could use advice as to pros and cons of using high temp paint on the outside of the drums. Is it a bad idea? Does it matter? I've wire brushed the outside and am ready to put it all back together. The truck has 18 leaves on the rear so the axle and drum may be from something larger than a one ton.
Thanks for reading all of this. It is still a fun adventure
Ricster

Painting drums isn't a bad idea- - - - -it's a TERRIBLE one. Drums have to dissipate the heat from the friction the shoes develop, and paint is an insulator. If you want to blacken the drums, use a little "stove polish" on them. It's basically carbon black suspended in beeswax. Those gear-shaped pieces are supposed to mesh with the adjuster wheels on the ends of the wheel cylinder and allow you to adjust each brake shoe individually. Do whatever is necessary to restore the adjusters to their proper function. The bolt-type adjusters are unique to the 1-ton brakes, I believe. 1/2 ton Huck brakes have slots for an adjusting tool.
Jerry

Thanks Hot Rod, the adjusters will be restored and reused. I was surprised to see so much loose hardware floating around. I appreciate the stove polish idea. Had not thought of that but since we have woodstoves I am acquainted with stove polish. My front brakes had the slots and the cylinders were in great shape. I think the fronts were doing all the work and the rears nothing. I mentioned this to the previous owner who responded by telling me that he always had to plan ahead when he intended to stop!
Brake shoes were not riveted and have 3/16 to 1/4 " pad left on the shoe.
Thank-you again for such a quick answer
Ricster

In case anyone out there is reading this thread, I thought I would include pictures of the adjuster bolts since I was unaware of them before attempting to take apart my rear drums. The bolts connect to the star adjuster plate inside the drum that looks like a miniature muffin tin! These plates engage the cast wheel cylinder gear as Hotrod Lincoln had indicated. In my case everything inside the drum was seized up so no adjustment was possible.
Also the front brakes on my one ton ( 250 ) GMC are 12 " by 2" shoes and the rear brakes are 14" by 2 1/2"

Hi Ric, and welcome to Stovebolt! Yes, do keep those adjusters -- they make adjusting the Huck brakes back there easy. And you want it to be easy because you will be doing it a lot More, if you drive the truck much. It's not bad, as long as you stay on top of it. I've included below our handy Huck Brake Adjusting Guide. I usually set it off to the side as I sit facing the brake drum. It's mainly for the front brakes. The star wheel rears are so easy to figure out, you don't need the diagram. I use a ratchet box end wrench and its done in a jiffy.

Unless you want to go the girlie-man route and convert to those sissy Bendix brakes ...

Hi John, thanks for much needed advice to keep me on the right path. I'm trying to keep as much original as I can. Don't want it for 80 mph on the turnpike. I'd rather do the blue highways at the 45 to 54 mph that it is happy with. The GMC is a 1951 - and it is as old as I am. I have other trucks to get places fast and after driving it around the rural wisconsin countryside for the first time last summer I told the previous owner that I had to learn how to drive and wave at the same time since anyone in a farmyard or field seemed to feel the urge to wave at the truck.
Here is a pic of the front end "jewels" after degreasing. The truck has little rust which is a relief after reading about some of the project trucks that some people are working on.
Thanks again,
Ricster

My 1951 1 Ton brakes work really well. Regardless what the previous owner told you, they are capable of providing excellent performance. The 14" rear brakes are the correct size.

I appreciate your words of encouragement Truckernix. I look forward to my brakes working like yours after everything is put back together and all four do what they were designed to do. Hope to get it together in the next few weeks.
Ricster

The manuals call those an "adjuster pinion". They are present on the rear of 1 ton, 1 1/2 ton and 2 ton trucks with Huck brakes. They work great and are easier to use than a screwdriver through the slots, until they don't work due to corrosion. If they are difficult to turn, cease your efforts and pull the drum, so that you can free them and the cylinder ends up. The pinion itself is soft metal and the bolt shaft will just turn the slotted hole into a round hole. To re-attach the pinion to the bolt shaft the manual says to peen over the end while in place. It might be easier to weld it to the bolt in a spot or two, but don't weld it to the backing plate! After proper adjusting your brakes you will find that you will have a firm pedal and the truck will stop quite well.
Kent

Adjuster pinion! Thank you Kent, I'm getting smarter by the hour. Also, very good advice on their handling and repair. In the few days since I pulled off the drums I have learned a lot and have become much more acquainted with my old GMC. I appreciate your post and believe others will in the future.
Ricster

When you do get around to replacing/relining those brakes, here's a sneaky trick that will reduce the frequency of adjusting sessions. New Huck brakes undergo a wearing-in process until the radius of the linings exactly match the drum. Until that happens, the pedal height will get low, and another adjustment will be needed. You'll probably also notice reduced stopping efficiency until the brakes get a full lining/drum contact patch. Once the lining matches up with the drum, further adjustments will be few and far between. You can short-stop the process by gluing a piece of coarse sandpaper (80 grit) to the inside of the drum and scuff-sanding the linings to the approximate radius of the drum. If you use a water-based glue like original Elmer's white glue, a little boiling water removes the sandpaper easily.
Jerry

Thanks again Jerry. Advice, tricks and tips are most appreciated since this is unfamiliar territory for me. Now if I can only find that broken one ton brake spring replacement. I'm taking your advice on the drums. Clean them up, put them on, no color, no paint.
Ricster

Couple things: Take really good care of those ball bearings for the front. They are expensive and there is no practical way of converting to rollers. Spend extra on good grease.

Second those adjuster pinions have been available within the past ten years. I believe I got mine from Jim Carter. I brazed the disc onto the shaft and used some phenolic of some sort to shield the spring from the heat. Has worked well for 10 years and counting. When you take the shoes to be relined (I had mine done at a place that specializes in heavy truck stuff) take the drums with you and have the shoes arced to the diameter of the drums. They can also put paper shims behind the shoes to increase the diameter. Tell them DO NOT TURN OR GRIND THE DRUMS. There are no more left, that anyone is willing to talk about anyway. Mine seldom need to be adjusted even though I run in mountainous country, mostly loaded.

I believe those return springs are also available from Jim Carter. If not he will probably know where to get them.


The front's are another story. They do too much of the work and my front drums are getting thin. They are already over the limit and I can tell when they get hot. I changed wheels for ones with bigger holes for air circulation, which has helped some. Still, disc brakes are in my future.

I thought I had found that one can buy new front drums for the 1 ton
They are the rear drum on the 3/4 ton

Find all the part numbers for front drum
Make a note of which vehicles the same part is used as a rear drum
Go hunting for rear drum for those other vehicles
-s

Thanks guys, I'm on the list at Jim Carters and just received a note from them saying they are doing their best to get them back in stock soon. I believe I still have lots of brake left on the shoes to not have to reline them just yet. So now I'm just cleaning up and reassembling as much as I can until the springs show up. The front ball bearings really surprised me and yes, I will be careful with them. New shocks in front are also going in and the brakeline hoses have been replaced. Before driving in the Spring the brake lines will be new since anything in the back end has not been in use for a while. New brake fluid and ( hopefully ) proper bleeding and brake adjustment will allow me the wonderful feeling of not having to downshift and begin prayers at the site of a stop sign a mile away!
Hope all of the pieces go back where they belong!
Ricster

All joking aside, you may have hit on the aspect of all of this that hasn't been talked about much -- our driving habits/style and how they can impact brake efficacy.

Our modern daily drivers, over the past 50 years or so, with all their modern anti-lock brake systems, good handling and electronic controls and sensors have really lulled us into bad driving habits -- like speeding, following too close, zooming up to stops, etc. Learning to drive 18-wheelers really showed me just what a crappy driver I was. I started out working on staying focused on what's happening around me -- especially to the front. Way to the front. I started driving like I was on sheet ice all the time and that other vehicles were likely to do unpredictable things. After awhile, it became a habit that was ingrained. Now, I drive my daily drivers, and most all vehicles, that way -- especially the antique truck with antique brakes. It really helped lengthen the intervals between brake adjustments on the old truck. Try that sometime -- pretend you are on ice and that you will probably go into a skid the moment you apply your brakes ... After awhile, you may find you are enjoying the drive more. Just be ready for the offensive drivers around you who will cut you off while zooming into a red light. And if all the impatient drivers stacked up behind you bother you, quit looking in the mirror so much -- there's nothing back there that will kill you as quickly as what's in front of you

Not saying anything here other than *I* have had to learn to drive slower and more defensively in order to more safely enjoy my antique truck driving experience. Maybe that thought is of use to others ....

Defensive driving. As a 30+ year retired teamster driver i know what that means all too well!! Stay safe. John

Quick question - I have the same setup, and am wondering two things - how'd you get the bolts/washer/spring off, and then how do you reattach them to the muffin tins when you reassemble?

Johnny N -- And learning to remember to cut the Jake off once I had stopped... Having the Jake kill the engine and having to restart with another driver next to you is ... embarrassing ...

Yup. Ouch. Had plenty of oops moments!!!

Hmmm. Kyle M, I'm working on that. From looking at the original setup, I think the stud bolt with its washer and spring was inserted into the back plate and then the "muffin tin " was engaged onto the stud end on the inside of the back plate. That is when the swaging takes place. I have four marks where a punch flared out the end of the stud bolt. I'm thinking the factory had some sort of jig to hold the works together before a press may have completed the task in one stroke. Swaging it back together is difficult if you have the back plate still on the axle. So I think others have suggested brazing or tig welding it back together for a more dependable result.
I have thought of making a new stud bolt by cutting off the head of a 3/8" dia. bolt, filing the shank of the stud to fit the muffin tin and weld that together on the bench. Having a threaded end attached to the muffin tin allows me to reassemble the entire brake and put a double nut with the spring and washer on the outside of the back plate later. Not original and some may cringe at the suggestion but possibly a alternate route.
Basically, I don't feel skilled enough to do that tricky weld in place and under the truck. I could use a more experienced guy to set us both straight. Don't want to mess this part up!
Ricster

On threaded brake adjusters I've had good luck with mixing just a LITTLE STP into some anti-seize. It seems to cling to the threads better and longer than pure anti-seize.

Here are a few pictures showing the old set of adjuster pinions and a new set. Since I was lucky enough to find new hardware I'm planning on doing the swage job that originally put them together. The old set had separated long ago and the disks were sliding around inside the drum causing damage to both the drum and the disks.
Ricster

Hey Ricster, I'm glad I wandered over here. We are on a similar path. I have a 48 1.5 ton with the same rear brake set up. When I pulled the stubborn right rear drum off I had parts fall out too. Broken spring, etc. I'm gonna call JC tomorrow. I saw the "DO NOT PAINT THE DRUMS" post. Hot Rod Lincoln gave me some good advice too on another post. If he's watching, what about brushing the non pad contact part with black oxide? A question to anyone. AND...Great looking truck!

"Stove Polish" that is used to treat wood burning stoves to prevent rust works on brake drums without interfering with their ability to dissipate heat. It's inexpensive, easy to apply, and one application will last quite a while. It's basically atomized carbon powder and beeswax. There's plenty of it available on Ebay.
Jerry