Axel Shims.

1946

1946

Member
During the rebuild of the diff and brake system I came across the problem of worn brake drum hubs. I had the problem of when the hubs were assembled on the axels the brake drum was rubbing on the the brake shoes, not just the lining but the metal shoe. The shoes had previously worn a small grove in the brake drum. I have hopefully fixed the problem buy contouring the linings and putting two shims, vendor supplied, on the axel, thus moving the drum further out on the axel. My question to this great pool of knowledge is, what is the general opinion on the use of axel shims.
 
I have had very good luck using them.

Having said that! Make sure you torque the rear axel nuts to 100. Enjoy.
 
If you need to use two on one axle, my suggestion is to make your own out of steel shim stock to equal the same thickness of the two. This is not my idea but has been around for a while and makes sense as there is less chance of slippage and easier to install.
 
When you reassemble make sure the axle, key, shims and hub are perfectly clean and dry, NO oil or grease.
 
I had to put the hubs on and then take them off a couple of times because I had re-packed the bearing with a lot of grease, which squeezed out onto the axle when the bearing slid over the race. Took a couple of cycles to get that cleaned up.
 
Prince Albert cans use to be a popular source for home made rear axel shims . As for removing oil or grease from brake lining , Lacquer thinner will remove all traces of oil from anything . The less expensive clean up lacquer thinner works fine .
 
Here's the pattern, you'll have to adjust the size to fit.
 

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  • Rear axle shim.jpg
    Rear axle shim.jpg
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Thank you all for the help and information. This weekend past I took the rear brake drums off, cleaned the insides and checked the studs for tightness. The right hand side drum needed two shims for adjustment and I found the left hand side the shims had moved up the axel so after taking note of the good advice I cleaned the axel stub, re curved the shim and it must have stayed in place as the brake drum stayed away from the shoes. I was very dubious of the tight axel nut requirements, as in, being wary of striping the axel thread. I dug out the trusty tension gauge set it to 100 lbs and gently brought up to tension. Thank you for the info on using drink cans as a source material for shims. I collected some from the Aero Club bar as I was duty pilot this weekend. I can now set to and the front hubs, thank you for the shim pattern Katty... and re do the brake set up. Many thanks for all the advice.:)
 
The right hand side drum needed two shims for adjustment
Click to expand...

If you need to use two on one axle, my suggestion is to make your own out of steel shim stock to equal the same thickness of the two. This is not my idea but has been around for a while and makes sense as there is less chance of slippage and easier to install.
Click to expand...

Ditto on the 1 thicker shim rather than 2 thin ones.
 
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