The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Getting gear oil out of brake shoes

One of the axle seals on my '54 1-1/2 ton blew out resulting in a saturation of gear oil on my passenger rear brake shoes. How do I get this oil out of them? I was told that steaming them does the trick haven't tried that yet. Are there any other tricks out there to curing this problem?

We clean shoes at work with a good degreaser and the hot power washer. If they haven't been soaking in the oil for years, it should come out. Spray type Brake Clean works really well also. Change them out if they are really bad. If the inside of the drum is polished smooth, the shoes are most likely to oil soaked. Give it a try if been just a day or two. Joe

For safety sake I'd change them out once your seal problem is fixed. Price of new shoes is cheap insurance. You need to address the drum also.

unless they are real hard to find ,or money is the problem replace them . on a old Harley sportster i had the drum brakes were soaked with grease for a long time ,i just washed them with brake clean to get the majority of the oil off and used a heat gun to drive any grease out ,had to heat and wipe them several time's .

Replace them. Once any kind of oil (or even brake fluid) gets into the friction, the shoes are junk. There is no way to 100% get it all out.

I have been in the trucking business 45 years. In the early years I tried to salvage brake linings, but it just isn't worth it. A brake pad that has absorbed any type of oil will always grab before the rest of them which can lead to a dangerous situation.

Junk the shoes.