The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Early 'Bolts (1916-1936 1st Half) 1927 1 ton questions

Need to get in and see what’s going on with the brakes as four new relined brake shoes came with the truck. I’m thinking previous owner took them off and had them relined and never got around to reinstalling them. Do I remove the large nut in the center or the eight nuts just outside of center. Hopefully all the brake hardware is still there cause it’s not in any of the parts boxes I have! This is on the rear axle as truck only has rear brakes.

Forgot the picture

Wrenchman ... we're not answering because none of us reading this probably know. Maybe someone will come along who knows.

Maybe try taking the rest of the 8 off and see what comes off?

I suggest the first thing to try is to take the large nut off the center. I believe this nut keeps the wheel and drum onto the axle. I suspect the eight carriage bolts keep the spokes and drum together. The nuts should be inside the brake drum.

The wheel and brake drum should come off, exposing the brake shoes and other hardware that would be covered by the drum.

If the wheel does not come off easily, you might need a wheel puller that screws onto the hub cap threads and has a bolt in the center that would push on the end of the axle. This is the setup that I'm familiar with on the old Chevy trucks. After screwing the puller onto the hub threads, crank the bolt down to contact the axle, make it a little tight, and give the end of the bolt a whack with a small sledge hammer. At least, that's the process I used on my old Chevy trucks. Below is a pic of my wheel/hub puller.

Figure out what thread size you have and then look for one that fits on ebay.

Dean

Wrenchman, in case you can't see Rustoolic's signature line*, I may want to see that he knows what he's talking about. Dean is a "go to" wrencher for us and our '27 1-ton.

Dean 'Rustoholic' Meltz
Lurch: 1927 1-Ton Chevy Cattle Truck
Old and ugly is beautiful! -- The Saga
Lurch's Gallery
Justin: 1928 Chevrolet AB Canopy Express
In the Stovebolt Gallery


* People using a cell phone are probably not seeing the signature lines, which is too bad. Can't see the left hand column either.

Thanks Rustoholic for the advice. Will be trying it that way and may have more questions for you in the future.

Thanks Peggy M, Yes I can see the signature line on my laptop and yes I read up on Lurch and Justin. Good reading right there!!!

As an aside, later models of these rigs came with front brakes, and I wonder if it would be possible to retro-fit that feature? It would be a big help for any one of these intended for driving of more than parade duty.

Rear axle bearing with looks to be grease zerks on backside of backing plate

Those type of 'grease' fittings showing in your photo are called Alemite fittings. I think they switched over to zerk fittings in the early 1930s.

I remember a judging issue at a VCCA car show where two 1932 cars had an identical number of points and the tie breaker came down to the type of grease fittings. One had zerks, the other had Alemite. The judges determined that the one with the zerks was not correct, so the car with the Alemites won best of class. ;-) But, this is slightly off topic.

I use high temp bearing grease for these bearings. On Lurch, there are grease cups (not grease fittings), so I just filled the grease cup and turn them down once per year or so.

The original outer oil seal was made of felt. I switched it out for an SKF 16404 neoprene oil seal. My main reason for the swap was to keep the grease out of the brake area.

There might be an inner seal too, but I never dug in that far to find out. I figure that if a little bearing grease gets mixed up in the rear axle oil, that's not a bad thing.

I suggest carefully measuring the diameter of the axle where the seal contacts it. Then go to a local bearing house with the axle measurement, the oil-seal housing, and the old felt seal. They should be able to find you a neoprene seal that drops right into the old space that held the felt seal.

Cheers, Dean

There's an Alemite grease gun hanging in the garage at my Dad's (now passed). It has slots that engage the pins sticking out the side of the fittings.

PM me if interested in acquiring it. I'll be heading down to visit my mom in the next month or so.

Thanks for the grease gun offer but I have accessibility to that style gun with some locals.

Thanks to the advice of others on this site I had a friend with a lathe make a hub/wheel puller and finally was able to remove a stubborn rear wheel. Axle shaft has considerable in and out play/movement. Parts book shows an axle plug on each axle but none to be found. Any idea on what I could use for a plug to reduce the play? Number 46.

Wrenchman, Your 1st pic appears to show the axle with the "plug" still present in the end of the axle from what I can see (compared to the parts book diagram). Below is a pic from a an ebay ad offering what is said to be a 1927-28 3/4 & 1 Ton truck axle shaft. It appears in this pic that the plug is absent from the axle being offered for sale. Maybe nothing is actually missing on yours??? Without knowing if the plug is meant to establish axles end play (I have no resources on the axle disassembly/assembly and set up), I can't offer any more help on that topic. Sorry. Perhaps Dean (Rustoholic) can offer some more insight into the axle setup???

The short answer is that I don't know the answer to the 'plug' question.

Many years ago (when I had more hair), I relined Lurch's brakes and in the process, took the rear axles out in order to replace the outer axle seal because the grease from the outer bearings totally invaded the brake area.

I replaced the outer felt seal with a new neoprene one (SKF 16406).

I don't remember seeing anything like the plug near the splines and I'm sure I was not aware enough at that time to test if the shafts had in and out slop.

I sent an email with a link to this discussion to a couple of guys I know that have '27 and '28 Chevy one ton trucks. Hopefully they will chime in.

Cheers, Dean

Just finished the rear differential this past weekend. Ended up welding the end of the axle shaft then grind and fit. Kept doing the grind and fit until I had about ten thousands end play. Turned out pretty nice and was able to get the brakes replaced. Just need to get he wheels back on now. Thanks to all who helped by answering my questions. Had a friend with a lathe make me a wheel puller, worked real slick!

Great to hear you have made progress. Thanks for coming back and letting us know!

Rear end pretty much done. Replaced inner and outer axle seals and pinion seal. Inner seal seals off the gear oil from reaching the rear wheel/axle bearing. Outer seal contains the wheel bearing grease to that area and off the brakes. Looked to be the original leather seals that were dried out and shrunken. Replaced with modern rubber lip seals. Same deal on the front wheel bearings. Replace one outer and one inner bearing and new seals. Interesting the rear gear ratio is 7:71 to 1. I guess that’s why there’s a warning on the dash that top speed not to exceed 35MPH.

More pics

Uses CV joint style driveshaft and two brake shoes per side. One for service brake and one for emergency brake. Previous owner had already had the shoes relined and I found them in a box. Had to resort to hardware store springs as original were non existent.