Rearching Brake Shoes

Bill in NJ

Well-known member
I have an AMMCO 8000 brake shoe rearcher and am testing it out on some old shoes I have. Am I correct that if you try to rearch a shoe that is used you do not know how much is really taken off when you are done sanding it??

I did not explain myself very good but I hope you can under stand my question. If not I will try again.

Let me try again. If I put a new relined shoe on the machine and set the machine to an eleven inch drum and set the other adjustment to zero I would then push the shoe to touch the sander. Next I would rotate the shoe so it is not touching and move the adjustment to .010 and start to sand the shoe.

If I did the same thing with a used shoe I could not tell how much was allready taken off. After all this I would never use an old shoe and try to rearch it period!!
 
Bill, to start off with, there is no tried or true method. Lets just use a 11" Model A shoe with a new lining and an used drum that is worn to 11.020" as an example. When the shoe is placed up inside the drum, what is your contact area of the shoe lining to the drum surface? Is it almost 90% or 50%? If it is 50%, it really does not matter how much you take off of the shoe lining because at some point in its life when it wears from 50% coverage to 90% surface coverage, then it will be about worn down to at least the same amount as what you would take off using the re-arcing process, so all you are doing with your sander is accelerating the wear process so you have the most applied surface of your lining just after the brake work is completed.

Next, if a shoe has been slightly bent, then the lining with be thinner in one area than in others. The same thing applies if you don't get the lining stretched enough when you rivet it on. While I have a special Kevlar lining bonded to the shoes, I find it really does not require much grinding (arcing) of the shoe lining to get a nice contact area. Use strips of paper inserted between the shoe lining and the drum to check the contact pressure.

.
 
If I recall correctly, you should measure the drum that the shoe will ride in, then subtract .010" (the setting on your archer) and grind till the shoe is sanded in all or most of its surface. The .010" is to grind the shoe so it doesn't dig in at the ends and cause severe braking. This should give you 90% contact, the shoe will wear in to 100% as you drive.
 
Don't forget that most old shoes contain asbestos. At a minimum use a proper mask while sanding on them. I use mine outside, contaminates the neighborhood but not my garage.
 
If you need a manual for your machine, there is a fellow selling them on eBay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180757331011
There also appears to be a PDF file of this manual on the internet that can be downloaded.
I have a pair of brake linings I would like to have 1/16-inch ground off of. These were relined 20 years ago so should not contain asbestoes. Would you like that work. I am willing to pay money for your service. ...bill in corvallis
 
bill; where does all that material go when we use up the brakes??? into the air,we all use....glad there is alternatives now....hope for a healthful future......k
 
I have a AMCO arcing machine.

I first have the drums turned to clean up and make true. I then measure a drum; for example lets say the drum now measures 11.40 . I set the Amco on the 11" scale; I then mount the relined shoe, dial in plus .40 and proceed to sand the new shoe until the sander has touched the entire surface. The new shoe is now arced to 11.40. I repeat the process with the second relined shoe. When finished these two shoes are now arced to 11.40 and should be retained with this individual drum.
Repeat the same process with each drum, no doubt each drum will not have the same measurement as the first drum and could vary as much as .40 depending how much has to be removed to clean up the drum.

Ron
 
I hope I'm reading this wrong that Ron in Quincy has ground his shoes to 11.40. Maybe 11.040?. There are 3 different shoe clamps for the Ammco grinders. One uses the center plane of later model brake shoes which pivot off the top mounting pin at the top of the backing plate. A second clamp is for high production grinding of shoes and a third for clamping the web portion of brake shoes which is what one should use when grinding Ford A shoes. I agree with wearing a respirator and grinding out doors if not to windy. The Ammco shoe arcers are becoming rare as Ammco when the asbestos liabilities were announced dropped all production of the machines and offer NO parts for the machines. I also suggest if you are planning to mount 11 inch shoes in a 11.040 drum to use the .015 high heat shim material or .030 shim material in +.060 drums to reduce how much lining material you will waste in cleaning up for full contact in the drum.
 
KR500,

You are correct, opened mouth before engauging brain, 11.040 !!!!!

I have several rolls of shim stock of different sizes ; it is only useful if you drill your brake shoe lining yourself. If you get a set of pre drilled shoe lining and put shims in place below the lining then the holes will not line up with the holes in the shoes.

If someone has a need for the shim stock, send me a e-mail, will be glad to work somthing out.

Ron
 
Who is in the business of cutting/grinding/arching/re-arcing my brake shoes to fit a 9" drum? Lining is not asbestoes. Anywhere in USA?
 
Be careful brake shoe linings manufactured in asbestos is legal in the US. 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 Asbestos cloth fibers. Brake dust fibers are well ground and consequently not likely to cause any harm unless you inhale them every day. Asbestos fibers are shaped like fish hooks and over time can accumulate in and irritate your lungs because they embed themselves. Bottom line, wear a mask because you can never be too sure what’s going into your lungs!
 
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