Grease on brake shoes
 

Recently I found my rear RHS brakes were not working at all, even after tightening up the adjustment with a spanner. When I removed the brake drum I found lots of grease on the lining and on the interior contacted surface of the drum.

I conclude that either I have been greasing the rear brakes too much (2 or 3 squirts every 500 miles) or I need new seals or both. Anyway what I want to know is this: Do I have to re-line the shoes or is there some product that will get the grease off sufficiently to get the brakes working again? I have some "Brakekleen" here, but my friend says it will only achieve a temporary fix and after a while more grease will seep out of the linings. He says I will have to renew the linings, but as they are not worn there is no other reason to renew them. What do you guys think?

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

Try the BrakeKleen after washing with Dawn dish soap full strength. They use dawn to wash birds after crude oil spills. And yes you were over greasing the bearings if it was grease rather than gear oil!

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

Its been my experience that if the grease as been soaking the lining for a long time that cleaning them will not work for long if at all, if it is recent then cleaning may work,
You may try using an oil cleaner that breaks down the grease, I have good results here in Cali with Simple Green to clean cooling systems that had failures with the oil coolers, will work best in a hot mixture.

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

Grease tends to soak into the lining and chemicals clean the surface. While it may be ok I would replace the lining to be safe.

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

Hi Mac,

Have no idea if POR 15 Marine Clean is available in your area.

I would never hesitate to try it on brake shoes.

For example, a few days ago I mixed some with (4) parts water & applied a little to a 1/8" thick, 50 year old, four (4) foot square "old" oil spot on my porous concrete garage floor.

Worked it in with a cleaning brush for about 2 minutes whereby it immediately dissolved the 1/8" thick hard caked oil on top, & got down deep into the pores of the porous concrete to lift out the soaked in oil.

Rinsed area afterwards about (3) times with a wet mop & water bucket -- saw bare concrete for the first time on this spot in about 45 years.

This cleaning material emulsifies & lifts oil as opposed to thinning oil & allowing it to soak in further.

Hope this helps.

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

Mac,
I had the same problem, cleaned break shoes with breakclean then put in oven or barbecue grill at 275 degrees for 20-30 minutes take out and wipe off and clean with breakclean repeat until no more oil or grease appears, may take 5 or 6 cycles it has been a year now and breaks are working fine.
John

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

What several of us in our club do is treat the rear wheel bearings like a front wheel bearing. Start with removing the seals and bearings, clean everything up and then pack the rear bearings like a front wheel bearing and use the best wheel bearing grease you can get. I use a premium quality wheel bearing grease & multipurpose grease, rated extreme pressure and lithium base made by Power Punch. Then assemble and do not add any grease by lubing the grease fitting on the rear axle. Check the rear wheel bearings on the same frequency as the front wheel bearings, repack every 5000 miles. I have put 30,000 miles on my 31 S/W and have not had a bearing problem or grease on my rear brake shoes.

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

Thanks everyone for your help. I will think about it for a while before I decide what to do. I don't know if we can get POR15 Marine Clean here in NZ. I like the idea of putting the brake shoes in the oven but I am sure my wife will have other views on that. Interesting to hear from 160B in post #7 that I should not be regularly greasing the rear wheel bearings. Do others agree?

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

I agree, don't grease the brakes. Grease the bearings.:D

I wouldnt hesitate to cook them in the BBQ grill.
Good luck

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

OK I've fixed that (post now edited) :)
BBQ idea sounds good.
Mac

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

By the 40s the fitting was gone, on the lube chart it was listed as a 10,000 mile repack ---there is another possibility---the seal for the axle is in backwards, the way the factory installed it ---with the lip facing the differential excess pressure will allow the grease to pass through the seal into the axle housing ---if the lip is facing the wheel bearing it will get tighter with pressure and that will force grease into the bearing under more pressure than the original design allowed.

---as much as you try you will never get all the grease out of the lining ---all that labor of multiple cleanings, several cans of cleaner-cooking in the oven---cleaning again--are linings that expensive (yes, I have cleaned greased linings, and suffered with the grabbing on the first application---switched one shoe to the other side to even out the pull ---cleaned them again
Yes, you can buy 3 cans--maybe even 4 of brakleen for the price of a NEW already lined brake shoe

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

I agree and only hand pack the rear wheel bearings.

A heat gun or hair drier will heat the linings.

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

I've saved a lot of greased brake shoes,but have found a few that were just too far gone to clean.I soak them in a tupperware container with laquer thinner.Shake the container a couple times a day,I've had to soak them for more than a week before.Every so often blow between the lining and shoe with a blow gun,you will be surprised at the slime that will squirt out.When the juice looks like it has more oil in it than thinner I change it.I just did a set of parking brake bands that looked like they had no lining they were so soaked.They came out of a car parked in 54,so they've had a good long soak.I soaked those in gas to soften the hard grease up,then went to the laquer thinner.I can now read some of the factory printing on the lining.Probably not the actual printing as it looks like the thinner ate the color off,but the imprint is there where the ink was.I've had far better luck doing this with woven linings than with composite.If you get them clean and dry,run a propane torch over the surface of the lining.If spooge oozes out they need to go in for another soak.

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

I cannot see the point of going through process of trying to clean something that may or may not work correctly when dealing with something that is as important as brakes. Cost of new shoes is not a lot at about $20 per shoe to replace all 4 is only $80 :confused:

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

I agree. I've also tried soaking them in gasoline then set fire to them with a blow torch- great fun, but like Aok says for the price of new linings you're better off not messing around.

Re: Grease on brake shoes
 

Great feedback! Thanks everyone. Looks like new linings then.
Mac