The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline What brand of brakes???

My old brake shoes are worn-down but have worked great, it's time for them to go. I called all of the local auto supply houses and none of them had Raybestos, Wagner or Bendix. I found some at the at one of the truck supply places, Raybestos 55PS for rear and Monroe BX228 front. I've never thought of Monroe as a "brake" company. They didn't have the same brand for both front and rear. I bought these, had the drums turned and installed the shoes with new springs/hardware and adjusted per the Chevy truck manual. I'm not new to brake-work and have done many. I always try to use the better brands.

These brakes don't stop the truck any faster that just letting it slow down in second gear, just plane not safe for driving.

I have found an on-line sourse Raybestos 228PS front shoes. If I put these on at least I would have the same brand front and rear. Am I on the right track? What next?

How much did you get the drums turned down. You may want to look at the wear pattern. There may not be full contact with the shoes on the drums. If this is the case, they should improve some with use.

The old shoes of course had full contact. I don't have a measurement for the drums after turning. The shop that did it has always my shoes or rotors that would be out-of-spec after turning. I'm sure there is only limited contact with the new shoes. I will carefully drive it for a month to see whether the stoppin power increases. In the "old days" you could get your new shoes machined to fit the old drums. I don't know whether there is now a business that can do that.

the brand of shoes shouldn't be a problem, and any brake shop that can turn drums properly should have the ability to arc the shoes to fit and should suggest doing so, have you checked with them?

Bill

Some of the linings we get now are junk. They have taken out the asbestos. I have had good luck with Carquest. I read a post on one of these websites that you must get linings with FF on the edges with manual brakes. Anything else is for power brakes.

Brakes are not something that "breaks in". either they work or they don't. If they don't, DO NOT DRIVE THE TRUCK UNTIL THEY DO!!!!!!!!!!! You are putting yourself and others on the road in danger....

Sounds like your shoes are not adjusted properly. With the wheel in the air spinning you should hear them slightly dragging. If you can't figure it out, a case of beer ususally lures a buddy who does......

The shoe adjustment only affects the pedal height, not how they work.

Too much space between the drum and shoes could cause little to no braking. Not just a problem with the pedal height.

I'll call around to see if I can find someone to arc the shoes, there must be a shop in town that can do that. The adjusters and posts have been adjusted per the Chevy manual, got good pedal. I do agree that not all brands are equal. I have not heard about the FF designation before.

As soon as you push on the brakes, all the space is illiminated, unless the pedal hits the floor. You can't have any reasonable pressure until all the shoes hit the drums.

Depends on how much the drums are worn and how much space is between the drums and the shoes.

Since he has good pedal, then likely the shoes just need to be arced to fit the drum to give more contact area.

...pull the drums off and take a look at the shoes to see how much of the shoe is making contact...and measure for minimum diameter of the drum.

Let us know what you find out. Someone else may have the same problem later on.

I've got half pedal and very firm, system has been bled. I'll drive it a little again today and see if it stops any better.

I tried CarQuest today and bought their brand. The shoes have the "FF" code. Installed this afternoon, will drive tomorrow and see how they work.

Did you check the fit against the drum to see how much of the shoe actually touches the drum?

Yes, not very good but I'll give them a try. If they don't work reasonably well, possibly I can get them arked. Don't really want to buy drums, low on cash right now.

If they can't make full contact, they won't stop you as well.

For sure! If it's not very good, she'll have to stay inthe garage for now.

That's making me wonder just how much they took out the drums. The max machining on those is .060" over the nominal. At that spec, there should still be decent contact (not the best, though). If they went to throwaway spec (.090" over nominal), the drums need to be replaced. They should have given you the after machining measurment. I always do on any carry in drums or rotors.
BTW, I beleive Carquest sources their brake friction from Wagner.

Its best if the shoes don't make full contact with the drums. In fact they used to "cam grind" the new shoes so they make contact in or near the center. These old trucks didn't have an adjustable anchor pin. If the shoes were exactly the same arc as the drum they could make contact on the edges & pull or grab. After they wear in you will get full contact & a more firm pedal. You still get good brakes as the shoes flex to fill the drum unless like Long says if the drums were turned too far out.

Just got back from a local drive. I would say the brakes are at 75% stopping power. I'll drive it for another week and then do a final adjustment per the Chevy manual. These CarQuest shoe are way better than the Monroes which just wouldn't stop the truck. Thanks to all for the help.

There was an article in the Jan/Feb 2012 issue of Vintage Truck about brake linings. It states that you should ask for "FF" code linings for manual brakes. It also stated that EE or FE are for power brakes. I am just repeating this for general interest and I know that the ones that didn't work for you were the FF code.

Actually the Monroes that didn't work had no code that I could find and the had a great amount of metal impregnation. The CarQuest I have now that work, have the "FF" code.

I dont think these old systems will work with metalic linings. We had two 55 police cars that came thru with metalic linings and you couldnt stand on them enought to stop.We replaced them with regular linings and they worked good.

Was that in '55? I remember in the late 60's there were some cars with non-powered disk brakes. Same thing you could hardly get them stopped.

I remember that the 1964 1/2 and 1965 GT350 Mustangs wouldn't pass Virginia inspection until the brakes were relined with NON-METALIC linings!

I put Raybestos on front and rear. No FF code although I had read the article in VT. I also understand that some brake shops will put on a thicker lining. I have had no trouble stopping but at 40 mph it doesn't take much.

This site has a lot of mechanical parts for ADs: www.rockauto.com. I was going to order from them but found some shoes locally. They seen to have good prices and were helpful when I talked with them on the phone.