'46 Brakes

[Mountain Dew]

I'm a Model A guy from way back and new to these early V8's. I recently acquired a 46 Super Deluxe that I am working the bugs out of. The right rear wheel was making a racket so I pulled the wheel to check things out. It has these drum retainers installed on the backing plate. It was scraping the drum. Did Drum retainers come on the 46 Ford originally? Are these really needed if the rear hub nut is torqued and cotter key installed?

I reformed them and took it out for a road test. The racket is gone but the drum is showing 185 degrees F. The Emergency brake does not seem to be hanging up. Is there any way to back the shoes off? I can barely spin the wheel by hand.

[alanwoodieman]

keep the clips, don't ask how I know. there are two 11/16 headed bolts on the back of the backing plate--up removes tension, down adds tension, one for each shoe

[GB SISSON]

Funny, all these years I have read about the retainers for the brake drums and have often wondered what they look like and how they they can do their job. One glance at this photo tells me. Not meaning to hijack this thread, but I Do love a simple mechanical fix.... Ok, back to the intended thread.

[19Fordy]

Could it be that the drum is still rubbing slightly on the "clip" when the
weight of the car puts upward presure on the axle and hub?

In the photo, the Clip" looks to be too close to the drum.

[51woodie]

If the drum retainer issue is fixed, and it is not dragging, is it possible you have a wheel cylinder that is sticking and not allowing a shoe to retract? That was a problem I had when I bought my '46 Coupe. It had sat for a few years prior to me buying it, and the right rear drum was dragging. Long story, but I had to cut the drum off to repair the problem.

[19Fordy]

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51woodie: Wow, That must have taken quite few cut off wheels. Well done.

[cas3]

Sometimes extreme violence is the only answer !

[Flathead Fever]

Those axle retainers came about in the late 40' early 50's after a midget lost a wheel that went into the crowd. I think they became mandatory at races after that. The early ones were a completely different style. It's definitely a good idea to leave them there especially if you're going to vintage drag race it. LIke'19Fordy" said, if you have any up downplay in the axle bearing the drum will come up when the weight is on the car. You might have to grind some more clearance into the bracket. While you have the drum off look at the bottom of the housing axle race and see how bad it's pitted. The bottom of the bearing race carries the weight of the car so they will always be worn on the bottom first. Measure the diameter top to bottom and then side to side to see how much wear there is

Thirty-years ago, down the street from me was an old-timer-engineer that was super smart. He told me a story I have never heard anywhere else. He claims that the later '46 to '48 brake shoes were designed to slide up and down. I have an advertisement for them, Ford advertised them in 1946 as the new "self-centering" brakes. The old guy said that as the axle housings wore on the '39-41 brakes, the old-style shoes that were fixed in place at the bottom could not move up with the drum and they went out of adjustment. He knew I was building a hot rod and he said make sure and get those later style brakes. I don't know if the story is true or not, but it makes since.

This reminds me I need to stick those axle retainers on my dad's 32 roadster I just inherited. Just in case I decide to terrorize it. I went to th Antique Nationals on Sunday with my 4-year-old grandson. Everybody there was super nice. They kept sticking them in their cars. That helped with my ongoing Early Ford/hot rod brainwashing program.

[Mountain Dew]

Originally Posted by alanwoodieman

keep the clips, don't ask how I know. there are two 11/16 headed bolts on the back of the backing plate--up removes tension, down adds tension, one for each shoe

You nailed it alanwoodieman! Thanks

I took it down the road and topped the tank off. The first time I had it on pavement. Everything went well. I still have a lot of bugs to work out so you will be seeing more posts from me.

Thanks everybody for the replies and comments.