Brake shoe grinder

[modelamodela]

What is involved in grinding the new shoes to fit the arc of the drums? Is there a tool that fits on the rear hub bearing race and the front spindle, to grind the shoes so that they are concentric and centered?

[RonC]

The shoes are ground off the car and the shoe arcs are ground to the inside diameter of the drums

[BRENT in 10-uh-C]

Brake Doktor made a unit that had slipped onto a rear housing race. The only issue is what do you do when there was .008"-.010" of wear on the race. Kinda makes the grinder a little 'wobbly' as it rotated.

Since most folks do not have a brake grinder, the easiest way for a home do-it-yourselfer to arc shoes is to use 80 grit sticky-back sand paper and stick it inside to the machined surface of the drum. Then place the newly lined shoe inside of the drum and rub it back & forth to remove the high spots on the linings.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C

Brake Doktor made a unit that had slipped onto a rear housing race. The only issue is what do you do when there was .008"-.010" of wear on the race. Kinda makes the grinder a little 'wobbly' as it rotated.

Since most folks do not have a brake grinder, the easiest way for a home do-it-yourselfer to arc shoes is to use 80 grit sticky-back sand paper and stick it inside to the machined surface of the drum. Then place the newly lined shoe inside of the drum and rub it back & forth to remove the high spots on the linings.

Are you saying take the shoes (unattached from the backing plates) and rub it by hand? or have the shoes attached to the backing plate, and then spin the drum across the shoes? Hopefully this question is clear enough.

[RonC]

I don't think I would sand shoes attached to the backing plates due to the grit getting into the brake components. Brent's off the car method would be better

[Bob C]

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This is the on the car Brake Dokter grinder.

[ctlikon0712]

Bob, I have a Brake Doktor I just recently purchased, thanks for the pic. Is your's a 4.5" or a 6" disc? What grit paper do you use? Do you have any extra adapters?

[Bob C]

It's not mine, I just found the picture on a web site. The one below is
mine but I have not been able to find a manual for the shoe grinder.

Bob

[ctlikon0712]

That will be nice when you have it all ready to go. I have seen many of the mandrells and adapters on ebay. Good luck!
Cheers!

[Kevin in NJ]

I have dimensions of the barret drum doktor adapters so you can make your own to do the Ford stuff. Contact me at my real email as found on my website.

[2manycars]

I wonder how many old mechanics got lung disease from all the asbestos that used to be in the linings. I can remember seeing guys blowing the brake dust from the backing plates and drums when I worked in the Ford dealership years ago.

[Kevin in NJ]

My understanding on asbestos.

Way over blown concern pumped up by the lawyers as it is a 10 billion dollar pay check for them. The asbestos problem was made to sound really bad so the juries were good and scared and gave out well.

Do not get me wrong. It was well known that asbestos caused cancer and the companies failed to take even basic protections. I had heard that 80% of the people that smoked when they worked with asbestos got cancer, only 20% of the non-smokers got it. Want to bet that the non smokers hung out with a lot of second hand smoke? I know a guy that worked in the ship yard and they always eat lunch in the asbestos room cause was cool in the summer.

A friend of mines brother died a few years ago from the type of cancer caused by asbestos. He did work on some cars when he was younger, but no real exposure to asbestos. They did contact a lawyer and there was this huge inclusive list of things. One of which was a building his father had worked on 40 years ago that they had used some asbestos. That was good enough and his widow received benefits. Of course they are pretty sure his father never came in contact with the asbestos. He certainly never worked with it since he was a supervisor.

So that being said.

The brake dust is not a huge problem. Lets face it, if it was a problem we would all have troubles cause it was constantly coming out of the cars. When the fibers are just a fine dust they can be moved out of the lungs. The particles that are larger that get caught in the lungs are the problem. Smoking deaden the cilia that move the dirt out of the lungs. You know how smokers cough a lot when they quite as the cilia start working again?

Asbestos is a mineral fiber. It occurs naturally and in some areas your children get exposed to more fibers playing in the dirt then what get released when they clean up at a school.

What am I saying about all this?

Be smart when working with the dust and limit your exposure- face masks are cheap and blow out your clothing, but also do not worry endlessly. Soapy water is a better way to clean up the dust.

[1931 flamingo]

I had a great uncle who worked in the asbestos mines in vermont most of his life, died of heart problems. As Kevin says it's BS the way the govt regulates it now, just like the EPA. It's about jobs and perpetuating the govt.
Paul in CT

[Dana Barlow]

Originally Posted by BRENT in 10-uh-C

Brake Doktor made a unit that had slipped onto a rear housing race. The only issue is what do you do when there was .008"-.010" of wear on the race. Kinda makes the grinder a little 'wobbly' as it rotated.

Since most folks do not have a brake grinder, the easiest way for a home do-it-yourselfer to arc shoes is to use 80 grit sticky-back sand paper and stick it inside to the machined surface of the drum. Then place the newly lined shoe inside of the drum and rub it back & forth to remove the high spots on the linings.

Simple is always great to hear about.

[RonC]

Asbestos is still being used in brake pads. It is not banned in brakes, clutches or gaskets. If you go to the this EPA link they list what's banned and what's not.

http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/pubs/asbbans2.pdf

http://www.epa.gov/asbestos/pubs/ban.html

What's considered dangerous is not the presence of Asbestos but any large loose Asbestos fibers. Like the old Aspestos cloth fibers. Brake dust fibers are well ground and consequently not likely to cause any harm unless you inhale them every day. Aspestos fibers are shaped like fish hooks and over time can accumulate in and irritate your lungs because they embed themselves.

[Johnny Nitro]

Thanks for the info RonC. The link between asbestos exposure and lung cancer is well established, and the studies are readily available to anyone from their computer. I would hate for someone here to expose themselves unnecessarily based on misinformation.