Mad Maxine
Full Access Member
As we all know, not all brake shoes are created equal. As it turns out, even equal brake shoes are not created equal.
I did a brake job 6 mos ago or so on Maxine. I always buy the best parts I can get, but more and more, the only thing you can get at the parts house is junk. I've always bought riveted shoes, but they (Advance) didn't even offer them---even their "premium" brand was essentially repackaged low-grade bonded shoes. Anyway, I bought the crap--$22/set, and put them on.
After the job, I couldn't get my parking brakes to work. I farted around with the tensioner and the adjuster no no avail. Finally, now that she's due an inspection, I got around to digging deeper into it. Here's what I found (left side):
As you can see, the parking brake pawl has ridden up over the shoe frame. Here's what it looks like when I took the parking brake assembly loose (right side):
If you look, you can see that the backing plate isn't flush with the rest of the frame, allowing only half of the support for the parking brake mechanism. :***:
So, now I've got my brakes apart in the middle of the driveway, and the only good set of shoes (Wagner) are special order only -- $115, 4-7 day delivery.
I got the first set from Advance, but hope springs eternal, so I went to O'Reilly's and looked at their set: $24, riveted, and a good steel frame with a bigger (and flush) backing plate.
Threw 'em on, adjusted them out, and my parking brakes work as they should. Moreover, my hydraulic brakes work (I would say better, but just WORK covers it) because when the pawl jumped the track, it jammed the front shoe into the drum so that it was dragging all the time, and rendered the rear shoe useless.
So, Advance $22 shoes -- junk. O'Reilly's $24 shoes -- good. But it may be luck of the draw; check the shoes in the box and see if you're getting riveted with a solid, properly reinforced frame.
Anyway, I hope this helps.
I did a brake job 6 mos ago or so on Maxine. I always buy the best parts I can get, but more and more, the only thing you can get at the parts house is junk. I've always bought riveted shoes, but they (Advance) didn't even offer them---even their "premium" brand was essentially repackaged low-grade bonded shoes. Anyway, I bought the crap--$22/set, and put them on.
After the job, I couldn't get my parking brakes to work. I farted around with the tensioner and the adjuster no no avail. Finally, now that she's due an inspection, I got around to digging deeper into it. Here's what I found (left side):
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As you can see, the parking brake pawl has ridden up over the shoe frame. Here's what it looks like when I took the parking brake assembly loose (right side):
You must be registered for see images attach
If you look, you can see that the backing plate isn't flush with the rest of the frame, allowing only half of the support for the parking brake mechanism. :***:
So, now I've got my brakes apart in the middle of the driveway, and the only good set of shoes (Wagner) are special order only -- $115, 4-7 day delivery.
I got the first set from Advance, but hope springs eternal, so I went to O'Reilly's and looked at their set: $24, riveted, and a good steel frame with a bigger (and flush) backing plate.
Threw 'em on, adjusted them out, and my parking brakes work as they should. Moreover, my hydraulic brakes work (I would say better, but just WORK covers it) because when the pawl jumped the track, it jammed the front shoe into the drum so that it was dragging all the time, and rendered the rear shoe useless.
So, Advance $22 shoes -- junk. O'Reilly's $24 shoes -- good. But it may be luck of the draw; check the shoes in the box and see if you're getting riveted with a solid, properly reinforced frame.
Anyway, I hope this helps.
