I spent a few years working at a Firestone Tire Center many years ago and one of the services we performed back then was to fit the brake shoes to the drum based on how much metal we removed refinishing the drums. If ya cut the drum .025 then you sanded the new shoes to fit this .025 with a amoco arcing machine. Now lets fast forward 30 plus years. Asbestos dust made the arc grinders go away and no one does this service anymore.<O However last summer a local vocation school closed and i bought all their tire and brake service equipment thinking it would be nice to have at the shop. The list included a like new arcing machine and a brake lathe. <O A few weeks ago ( one example of many) a local hot rod builder called and asked if i had a shoe grinder ( he heard thru the grapevine that i did) It seems as if he had put all new parts on a early hot rod with ford nine inch and didnt like the feel and performance of the drum brakes. Putting the "new" brake drums on the lathe showed that the new drums wasnt very round at all and it took some cutting to make them round. Then he showed me the shoes as well, He had placed black sharpie lines across the shoes and then driven the car and after many stops noticed that the sharpie lines in some areas had no wear what so ever ! We fired up the grinder made a couple adjustments and dialed them in. WOW the shoes fit perfectly!!!! <O Now today a few weeks later another set of new drums came in the door. A quick look on the lathe showed one took .020 to straighten out and true up while the other one wasnt too bad and a cut of only .010 shaped er up. A quick arc on the shoes and they fit perfectly!<O Just a note to say these new drums are very often NOT very round and if you can find a old arc machine its the best of the best for a great brake job!!!!<O <O <O
Truly the correct way to make drum brakes work. There is still a company here in Phoenix that still does it. It makes a huge difference in how good drums work. No more pulling from side to side, and an adjustment lasts a long time.
this year when i moved i gave away my brake lathe and shoe grinder. 2 months later he set it up and has been using all the time now.
I bought one of the Amoco machines several years ago, I found it inside an old school bus in a salvage yard. I still have it but have never used it, it runs and all just never took the time to learn about it. Dang thing weighs a ton.
I worked at a place in the 60's that relined shoes and it was common to cam grind the shoes to match the drums. I recently found a place about 20 miles away that still does it. Also, if your drums are .060 or more oversized they will use thicker lining and then grind to match your drums.
I was just thinking about this very topic this AM and wondering if I could do it with some trial and error and a belt sander. Great deal and gald to know you got the tools to do it right.
just the other day we were turned on to a local shop in Long Beach (Ca) to have some shoes arched........... been in the same old brick building since 1942.......... not only were they very helpful and knew the tolerances for a 50 olds off the top of thier heads, but we did some talking and these guys are 'experts' in every aspect of brakes and really know the old stuff. We learned a lot that day. From now on they will see all of my shoes and drums........ It was also interesting that the company uses my last name.. C.H.Topping Co - Long Beach Ca - I will fish out the card in the shop and get a phone # I would highly recommend them
I learned how to arc shoes at one of the schools I went to a long long time ago and when you start working at a dealership they don't care about arcing shoes I have an Ammco brake machine that does rotors and drums but no shoe grinder I really think it's a nice tool to have. good luck
I am 39 and surfing through my 50 years of magazines and reading the HAMB daily that name strikes me as one that comes up quite often. Seems I saw an artical about them in one of my 80s Street Rodders the other night. And GMCBubba........you going to offer a service to HAMBERS!?!?!??!?!
They were outlawed in 1976 for garage usage, but always did a good job when I used one. The trick is to get the chart with it and all the shoe anchors and pivots so it cuts on center. Brake break in was fast and the customer was always happy with arced shoes. When they switched over to the factory arced shoes, we used to put a slight bevel on the trailing and leading edges of the shoes with a rasp to help them break in faster. Bob
No problem doing them for hambers. However you need to have the drums there as well. My friend yesterday insisted the drums needed nothing as they were new. He couldnt believe the sound when the lathe bit first hit the drum (only part of the way round). I have decided there is a "tawain ruler" and its different than ours...
i have one of those Aamco brake shoe arcing machine too , it came along with the brake drum lathe i bought from an old automotive repair shop...GMC , have you found a source for a replacement abrasive cylinder?
I was taught way back when to always turn brand new drums right out of the box. It is amazing how many of them are way out of round even though they are new. It could be that they are stacked too high on the long boat ride over here.
I always turned new rotors and drums and most would need at least .010 or .020 to true them up. Then there was a period of "rebuilt" rotors and drums. One shop I was in seemed to like the rotors (at least the bosses and bean counters did) and had a big stock of them. They were about 99.999% crap, undersize off the bat with screwed up studs at no added cost. Bob
i bought sleeves for mine from these guys but that was MANY moons ago...straightline 49 st bridgets dr rochester ny 14605 718-325-5323
Actually no i havent. I did try for some time to find some new cylinder replacement papers etc. We took mine apart cleaned itup and contact cemented some new paper to it , works like a champ...
I just had my rear drums cut, they went to the max spec. What can I look for when installing my new shoes? If they don't match, short of machine grinding, what can I do? Rich
Well T McG there is a second place in Phoenix to get shoes arced ME !! Any HAMBers in the Phoenix Area need drums turned ,shoes arced PM me I'm 59th& Thomas area. For the abrasive sleeves give this outfit a call " Shepard-Thomason 714-773-5539" I've adapted sleeves from woodworking drum sanders also. PS I also have a garage full of machine tools etc. so if I can help any HAMBers out with that kind of thing PM . [I'm cost effective LOL]
Most older drums can safely go to .090 OS no prob and some more. As to the shoes a little work with belt sander can help. What you are after is a few thousands clearance at each end of the lining where it contacts the drum to start. Take a VERY small amount off the center of the lining working out to each end being VERY careful not to cut the lining at a ngle to the shoe. Experiment on a old shoe.
Call me crazy but I take self stick air file paper and stick it to the inside of the drum, then sand the shoes I'm going to use with the drum itself......remove the paper when done and presto a perfect fit every time.
The shop I work at does custom shoe relining for elevators, cranes, dozers, etc. We had the brake shoe grinder, but the insurance guy made us dismantle and throw away that machine. This was just barely after the end of asbestos brake material. Disc brake rotors being out of spec fresh out of the box? Stacking the boxes on the shelf on edge instead of flat will warp a rotor. A plywood shelf that sags will do the same job on rotors stacked flat.
Hey I have done shoes that way to arc em but there is another old time trick to it also, turn shoes with lining face up on a hard surface and put a block of wood on lining and smack it wit a hammer keep checking the shoe to drum till it fits does work I have done it Ken
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