fading brakes
 

I have been noticing the brakes on my 29 CCpu are fading when I use them at 30mph and above pumping the brakes will slow the fade down but the other day they faded to nothing and I need to fix it. pulled the hubs and all the shoes look good and I started to adjust the brake rods to make sure all the slack is out but need to let a few of the pins soke because they are rusted on the rods so I will work on it tomorrow. but my question is what have you done to eliminate brake fade. I have the stamped drums. does any one know what the thikness of the drums suppose to be so I can see if I need to change to a fresh set of drums. any advice or comments are welcome.

Re: fading brakes
 

If you can measure the drums, at 11.060" they should be replaced!

Re: fading brakes
 

From what you are describing it almost certainly is fade, probably caused by too thin drums that do not dissipate the heat that builds up. You likely need a new set of drums and should go to cast iron which are much more fade resistant. Good luck!

Re: fading brakes
 

When the brakes are cold how far down does the brake pedal go before applying the brakes?

Re: fading brakes
 

do the shoes show wear indicating full contact? Are all drums equally hot after braking? ( use an infra red remote thermometer). Shoes having partial contact can aggravate fade. Having only one or two drums doing the braking due to un equalized adjustment will cause it as well. But, as mentioned by other posters, the drums expand when they get hot, more so when thin. If the pedal is too low to begin with, it only gets lower as the circumference of the drum expands. Cast drums with well centered and arced shoes, adjusted so each drum brakes equally are the usual solution.

Re: fading brakes
 

the pedal only goes down 1/2 to an inch before the brakes grab. and the brakes are getting good contact on all wheels. the brake shoes are smooth from top to bottom except for the driver front but I readjusted that one the other day. will be checking the rod adjust ment today. but I think all the posters have confermed the need for some new drums. will let you know how it turns out.

Re: fading brakes
 

It can be quite a feat to properly adjust these brakes.. I think I'm one of the few that still like steel drums.. I think new steel drums are about .140-.150" thick and shouldn't be turned much more than just a clean-up cut which means they should be no thinner than about .125-.130".. Like the fellas said, thinner than that and they'll fade more than normal.. From your post though it seems like this fade problem is fairly new, so, something else could also be the problem.. Steel reinforcement rings are made for steel drums which is supposed to reduce the fade, but, they require a clean-up cut once installed so I'm not sure whether they work that well or not.. When you try to adjust the brakes, are you using an adjustment board??

Re: fading brakes
 

one more thing, check to see the rods are all straight. One bent one will give you a squishy pedal. An old "trick" I have seen from back in the day of no money and no brains was to crimp the back rods into a 90 degree angle back at the rear clevis. The idea was to shorten the rod more after the clevis had been run all the way up. Well it did that, but it also caused the rod to stretch back with pedal pressure, limiting the amount of brake power, and giving the effect of brakes going all the way to the floor. That combination with hot drums would cause bad fade for sure. But if everything looks hunky dory, then measure the drums. If they're thin, they need to be replaced. Good steel drums with bands work well, if you can find them. But I love cast drums....no fade whatsoever, even on very long downhill grades, like in the siskyous or crater lake area.

Re: fading brakes
 

Re: fading brakes
 

UPDATE I adjusted the rods and sentered the shoes. works great now no fade. but I doo have a little squeeking not much but enough for me to fix. because I don't want them to squeek. will update again when the squeek is gone.