Hi Richard,
Definitely replace the brake shoes if they are soaked with oil. They are
ruined. You can have them re-lined if you wish, but replacement costs are
relatively low and they will want your old ones as cores. Personally, I also
like
to at least replace the springs and fasteners, which usually come in a kit. And
it's often a good idea to rebuild the slave cylinders while everything is
apart.
I appreciate that you are working on the brakes, but I think there might
be a deeper cause of the problems you've found.
I hate to say it, but oil in the rear brake drums usually means the axle
seals need replacement. (One other possibility, unlikely, but possible. By any
chance did you grease the rear wheel bearings a lot?)
Assuming it's the seals, there are two sets (four total). Two are inside
the axle tubes and relatively easy to get at, two are inside the hub assembly,
which are buggers to get apart.
Once apart, check the axles themselves for wear and roughness or grooves
where the seals rub. If there is any, it will ruin new seals pretty quickly. If
the seals have worn a groove, there are two possiblities short of replacing
the axle. One is a double lip seal that moves the sealing lips to a new
location on the axle, the other is a "speedi sleeve" that's a thin shim that
slips on
and provides a new smooth surface for the seal to run on. I think Moss might
be offering both of these solutions. Maybe TRF, too.
Oh, and when disassembling to remove the axles and hubs, you will find a
bunch of shims behind the brake backing plate, that set the end play for the
axle. This is pretty critical and should be about .004". You might want to
check
it before disassembly and order any necessary shims in advance. When taking
things apart, be very careful to keep the shim packs together as sets, to make
reassembly easier. Double check axle end play once it's all back together.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I think it's well worth checking
out the source of that oil on the brakes, before doing a brake job. Otherwise,
the new brakes might fail very quickly, too, when more oil gets on them.
Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif.
'62 TR4 CT1l7602L
http://www.triumphowners.com/640
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While I've got the carbs out for rebuilding by mr. jeff playa, I decided to
take a look at the rear brakes. I've had issues since acquiring TS75434 with
the parking brakes barely holding the car on even the slightist incline. I
think
I figured out why. When I pulled the drums, I was presented with quite a
layer of oil and gunk on all the internals. Not quite sure what happened, but
it
needs to be cleaned up now. The shoes don't look too bad, will a good soaking
in degreaser and brake cleaner get the oil out of them? They all mic at around
5/16" of padleft. Should I invest in new shoes, or just work with what I have?
And, how hard is it to get the shoes out? I noticed they held in place with
pins and clips, and it looks like the parking brake mechanism will need to be
removed. The wheel cylinders look ok, with no leaking and the adjusters work as
they should. I will just go by the "red book" instructions to get the shoes
out unless someone speaks up with any "gotchas" that
they went through. Thanks for any help.
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