E-brake cross-shaft arm repair

[Vin-tin]

What is the best method of rebuilding the E-brake cross-shaft arms on my '29 coupe?
Mine are worn pretty bad.
Does it work best to build them up, or can a sleeve be pressed on?

[wrndln]

The two or three cross shafts I have restored, I MIG welded the shaft up and dressed down the weld with a grinder and file. Since the emergency brake cross shaft only moves a tiny bit, the shaft doesn't need to be perfect as long as it is pretty round and the eyelet on the emergency brake rod doesn't rattle. I think this is the easiest way to restore the emergency brake shaft, but I am sure there are other methods.
Rusty Nelson

[Tom Wesenberg]

That shaft doesn't look bad to me. It shows a little wear, but not bad enough I would mess with it. The adjustments would easily take care of a little play. If you do insist on building it up, you could heat it up and braze it. Just lay on a thin layer of brass welding rod, just like using solder to tin something. This way it would have a brass wear surface. The important thing is to keep it lubricated. Lack of lube is the reason for so much wear on our Model A's.

[Vin-tin]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

That shaft doesn't look bad to me... The important thing is to keep it lubricated. Lack of lube is the reason for so much wear on our Model A's.

Tom, you would not believe the amount of lube that was used on this car in it's lifetime. This car was only in use for 29 years. It sat in storage from 1958 until 2013 when I bought it. In those 29 years of use, (1929-1958)someone felt the need to lube the heck out of everything. That lube attracted dust and dirt and that acts like sand paper wearing on anything that moves. So far I have scraped away almost a full 5 gallon bucket of caked on grease and dirt from the chassis. The nice thing about this is that under all that muck is nice shiny metal.

[RonC]

The original design was a woven insert bushing with no lubrication.

[Tom Wesenberg]

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I'd bet oil and dust is better than rubbing the parts on rust. Anyway todays roads are pretty free of dirt and dust, unless you live way out in the country.