The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Tons 'o Fun Huck Brakes

Found a relined set of 2x14 brakes real cheap! Dare I use them in lieu of the original 2-1/2"x14 that are in the rear? Would there be an alignment issue? The current ones are oil soaked and the truck would never haul loads.

I would recommend what the OEM specs called for. In your case 2.5"x14" brake shoes. I never like "cheap" when it comes to steering and brakes. You'll have diminished stopping ability with the narrow incorrectly sized brake shoes. Also the Huck system brakes were marginal even in top working condition.
(The Bendix brakes became available in '51 on 1/2 ton trucks and '52 or'53 on 1 ton and larger trucks)

I would get the originals relined ASAP, don't do brakes cheap, they're there to save your life. I'll drive anything that runs crappy and stops good, but, I wont drive anthing that wont stop, no matter how great it runs.

Amen

I had jim carter reline mine, They looked good, But were bonded rather than riveted. But they work well. There price was real reasonable.

After hunting around for a replacement set, I had a local friction supply company reline mine for about $25/shoe.

I had mine relined on my 51 1 Ton and they work just fine. I must say there is nothing marginal about my Huck brakes. The whole thing about them being hard to operate does not apply in my case. Yes they do not have automatice adjusters but they take a lot of running before they need adjusting.

641, asbestos brake lining has not been legally manufactured in the USA since about 1980 but some is still out there if you do some searching. I recently took the so called "organic" pads and shoes off my street rod roadster and put asbestos friction on and it was like adding a power booster. I'd forgotten what an effective friction material asbestos is, and very easy on drums and rotors too.

It shows up on ebay occasionally and some of it, Gray Rock for example, is very high quality.

Asbestos is like R12 refrigerant, illegal to manufacture but not illegal to own if you can find it.

I did find a local commercial brake lining company that would do the set for about $100. Not sure if they rivet or bond.

Got lucky and found a set of nos shoes for my 52 3804 rear brakes,on ebay,last year,for a song.
Still in the GM box.
As I remember it,I was the only 1 bidding.
Anyway,gonna swap em out and then have a local shop reline my old cores.
25 bucks a shoe is an EXCELLANT price to pay for piece of mind
AND Stopping Power.
regards,
steve sr.

I am looking around and I swore I saw someone post part numbers for a vendor that sold drums somewhere... I want to update to Bendix from my Huck system... I am guessing I can't use the same drums?