The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Huck Brake Drums

Are the front and rear Huck-style brake drums the same? If not what is the difference?

No, they are not the same. All you have to do is look at them to see the big difference.
And they are very hard, if not impossible, to find. So do not have the drums turned, you need to keep all the metal you can.

I found that one of the aftermarket companies have them at $95 per but wonder where they are made. I know that Bendix drums are readily available from both the USA and China.

Regarding the aftermarket drums, the supplier told me they are made in Argentina. Strange knowing that aftermarket parts come from there. Never knew that.

which company carries the aftermarket huck drums?

Carters has them up to 1 1/2 ton (or did last I checked)

American Classic has them up to a 1/2 ton.

The Filling Station is where I found them.

Well, I did not know they were being reproduced now. I wonder how good they are, since most repop stuff is trash.

Speaking of Huck brakes, they are also on my '46. I've serviced the front ones already installing new wheel cylinder kits for both, basically cleaning the brake system up and repacking the wheel bearings. The shoes and drums themsleves were in good condition. My questions surround the rear brakes which I'm working on next. For those who have worked on these rear brakes, is there anything I need to really pay close attention to due to the fact that they are set up different than the front brakes? Is the parking brake mechanism tricky to deal with? Any tips would be helpful.

Clean and lube the heck out of the e-brake levers and the adjusting bolts in the backing plates and the cups that fit on the wheel cylinders. When adjusting the Hucks, adjust each side up tight until the drum can't be turned at all, then back off until light scraping of the shoes are heard. Do this for each shoe. If not properly adjusted, you'll have "air in the brakes" type of symptoms that bleeding will not fix. Make sure you install a fresh grease seal on the drums too. It's no fun to redo brakes just to have them ruined by gear lube.
Scott

I'm new to the board and new to building my truck, fixing the brakes is one of the first fixes.

Thanks for the the tips on where to find the brakes. I recently found pretty much all the parts I'm going to need for my 54 Chevy brakes at rockauto.com and they seem to be pretty cheap too.

RockAuto might not be the place to go for advice, but if you know the part you need, they seem to have a lot of the old truck parts.

v8tvfarmgirl,
Welcome to the Bolt! What part of S.IL are you from?

48bigtrucks,

Thanks for the tips! Almost forgot about that grease seal! Gotta buy a pair.

Your right, don't want to redo brakes...at least for awhile.

30 miles south east of St. Louis, a little farm town called Waterloo.

v8tvfarmgirl
How about some pictures of that 54 Chevy for the Gallery? And welcome from another Illinois 'bolter. Google puts me 155 miles from you in Sullivan. Do you ever get up to Fairmont City to Gateway Classic Cars? Me and a buddy like to hit that about twice a year and dream a little.

You can see the truck on our website www.v8tvshow.com. We do video blogs pretty frequently, the one we shot tonight is of me refurbishing my brake parts with Eastwood paints. Its a major low buck build, the truck is totally for hauling parts to and from the shop. I haven't been to Gateway Classic Cars, drove by it a few times. I'm learning so much on this site. Great community and great information.

http://v8tvshow.com/content/view/371/85/

Kelle,

Nice introduction video.

Why would you want to convert to 12v with a starting system that turns as fast as yours does? If you want an electronic ignition, a 6v electronic ignition is available from Pertronix. Now, if you want a 12v steereo system or air conditions, that's another matter.

Yes, you need to choke it to start (after pumping the gas pedal a few times and giving it a little throttle). Each one of these old trucks has a slightly different starting ritual.

Nice 54.

Tim

Thanks,
We started it quickly because I slipped in a 12 volt battery just to see what it would do. I didn't have a 6 volt just sitting around. But the generator was smoking so we definately need to do the conversion. I don't need AC but I definately need a radio so the 12 volts will help.
Here is the video we shot today:

http://v8tvshow.com/content/view/484/1/