What should I do here? 36 mod 51 brake
 

I have seals ordered for both sides of the rear axle, the right side has signs of oil seepage but the brake shoes were fine. The left side is a different story, oil all over the place including the shoes. Do you think I can get these cleaned up enough to stop properly or put on new shoes? I'm not hauling loads in the ole beauty when it's done so thinking clean um up good and go with it? Depends if oil has soaked into them I guess? Thanks for any advice Bret

Re: What should I do here? 36 mod 51 brake
 

Ok, since I posted this I've cleaned um up with a lot of brake cleaner, it cleaned up pretty well, I think i'm going to install the drum tomorrow and see how the brakes work, before you could still turn it "be it tight" with the brakes applied pretty hard. I think they cleaned up pretty well, we will see. I have a new seal coming from JobLot to fix the problem!

Re: What should I do here? 36 mod 51 brake
 

In the olden days I would soak oiled down brake shoes in lacquer thinner. It always seemed to clean them up (de-grease/de-oil them). Not sure what it does to the brake shoe material, but we got away with it back in the day.