The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 3600 Brake drums

Anybody have a line on brake drums for a 49' 3600? Seems they are impossible to find......

Jim Carter sells them but they are not cheap. I have a set off a 53 but I don't think they interchange with the earlier years. You can find them at oldchevytrucks.com Item #MEB 126

For a '49 you need Huck drums, for a '53 you need Bendix drums. Since its common to swap Huck to Bendix the Bendix are more likely to be reproduced than the Huck.

This is just for information. I recently bought rear and front drums for the Huck style 1/2 Ton from Jim Carter. They were made in Argentina and two of them were .005" over and one was .015" over standard. They are good looking drums but they should be exactly standard.

Bowtie bits in wichita ks and Tom Myers truck parts in Miami ok has them ready to go.

BAH...just went though this myself on my 1950 3600 3/4 ton... my advice... dump the rear Huck brakes if you aren't doing an original buildup restoration.

The front shoes and flex lines can be bought from Autozone for $25 (I was surprised too). Duralast #141 and #88215

The rear shoes I was unable to find anywhere reasonable. Two places wanted over $100 to reline + $100 core charge. I was able to get my shoes relined at

http://www.brakeplace.com/brake_shoe_rebuilding%202.htm

in Minneapolis. For $15 per shoe they did a great job and had them back to me in less than a week.

The wheel cylinders are $60-$80 each or $60 to $80 to re-sleeve...take your pick. (Bendix wheel cylinders are $20 each). The rear seals and bearings are standard from 1947 until 1987.

Now add in the $200+ cost of your drums and I think you can see why I said to dump the rear Huck's.

Newer style Bendix brakes can be installed if you buy all the components needed. To mount the new backing plates you will need to hog out the mount holes on the axle to 1/2 inch and re-tap them.

Assuming you need to do the common parts replacement when rebuilding this axle you will be out $400-$500.

I didn't mention that you have a 4.57 or 5.10 gear set in that H052 axle... not good for top speed. Many people use a commonly found 4.10 gear set in this axle.

Yes, this post was long-winded and may have had some info you didn't need. I thought that I'd try and be more helpful than some of the people here who have "look it up in the archives" ready to paste into any posting... not realizing that with an archive this huge it takes 5 times as long to search as it would for the person to be functionally useful and actually post something that helps a person out.

Those 4.10 gears are not common in my part of the country and I know people who have spent years looking to find a set.

Are they an option? Only if you can find them!