Number and size of rivets on brake shoes

[mburtis]

So getting parts together for the brake rebuild on the 49. I think I'm just going to reline the brake shoes. It appears a fairly appropriate lining material as well as the rivets and the punch can be bought cheap enough via mcmaster carr or others. My car had bonded brakes on it when i got it and it will be easy enough drill them  but I have a few questions to make sure it will work. 

 

First question is how many and what size are the rivets on original brake shoes?

second thing just to put my mind at ease, how thick is the metal (face) plate on original shoes. Just want to make sure the shoe cores i have arent way thinner due to being bonded originally. 

 

Would be happy to hear from anyone who has relined shoes for these cars, as far as what materials and techniques were used. 

Thanks

[desoto1939]

First suggestion is to get a set of already predilled brake shoe lining for your car because the holes are countersunk and they have to be at the proper depth.  It also depends on the size rivet and the number of drill holes in the lining..

 

I have relinded sevral sets of my brakes shoes for my 39 Desoto.

 

I live near Philadelphia pa. If you want to callme you can and I can provide you with some detailed information on rivet size, proper number for the brake lining and other information.

I have several brake lining catalogs with this info.

 

Rich Hartung

Cell 484-431-8157

home 610-630-9188

[mburtis]

I haven't managed to find a source for pre made linings for these cars yet, maybe there is a source out there I haven't found yet. Countersinking the holes shouldn't be to hard, I can put it on the mill to do them and figure how deep they need to be based on the rivets I end up using and the total clamped thickness. 

 

I very well may give you a call as I get closer to tackling this project, always good to have first hand information.

[Greg51T&CWagon]

When I was on the phone with George Asche a couple weeks ago discussing the possible rebuild of my 251, he mentioned they had the brake linings for my car a 51 Chrysler. So you might give them a call. 

[mburtis]

If the pictures in the service manual are to be trusted, it looks like ten rivets per shoe, a wider pair at each end and in the middle and then narrower pairs in between.  Hard telling how accurate that is though. It appears that the cores I have are likely built for much thinner lining than the original 13/16, which would make sense seeing as the cores were originally bonded instead of riveted. 

[TodFitch]

When I relined my parking brake I found a tool kit that consisted of a jig, counter boring drill bit and a set specifically designed for drilling brake lining  and attaching the linings to shoes (or bands). I don't recall exactly where I ordered it, but I think it was a Model A Ford supplier and I don't recall it being very expensive.

 

Anyway that allowed me to reuse the holes that were in my brake band as opposed to getting pre-drilled linings. Holes in the lining have to match up exactly with the holes in the shoe or band and in my mind that pretty much means you need to clamp the together when drilling. I'd rather not have extra holes in the part of the assembly that might need to be reused in the future so I'd rather drill the lining than the shoes.