Hey all,
Apologies. It was Nancy inquiring about shoes and pads, not Andy who was
helping her.
Nancy, pads typically clamp a rotating disc on both sides, much like if you
grabbed a plate from your cabinet and held it vertically between your hands
like you were praying. Brake discs and it's pads are serentine and not flat
on Police and Race vehicles which triples the brake friction surface. Many
discs like on motorcycles, race cars and high-end sports cars have cooling
holes around the face of the entire disc.
Drums are like a straight sided frying pan. The shoes fit inside the pan
laying flat on the bottom and expand outward to the side walls of the pan
much like if you took your sponge to wash clean the inner sides of the round
pan. Not are drum wall surfaces are flat. Police cars that had drum brakes
had serpentine surfaces and shoes, triped the friction surface.
Disc brakes are far superior to drum brakes for a multitude of reasons. On a
trailer, especially an occasional use trailer, drum brakes work just fine. A
lot of trailers use a pad or pads, but are not disc brakes, but a pad that
presses against a face, usually the drum face. They work just fine too.
Fix what you have. It worked great for years and is renewable. Unless you
have deep pockets or a major component failure, it is not necessary to spend
a lot of money to upgrade. I have eight trailers from 1946, thru 1979 with
even the old full circumference drum-face shoes. I have renewed them all.
They all work just great. My modern utility and equipment trailers have the
simpler disc on hub systems. I don't depend on brakes even in the mountains,
so I have never noticed a big difference in any of the systems. People drive
differently though and differ in opinion on everything.
-Eddie- (713)694-8084 24hrs or email, EddieHuffstetter@hotmail.com
> Brake shoes, pads, clutch discs, drum bands, drum facing, AC compressor
> clutch in your vehicle, and just a whole lists of friction contact items
> have linings. Lining materials vary a lot, from cheapy fast wear to all
> levels of quality including metals. Soft materials don't wear drums and
> discs fast, but rapidly wear out and then the metal core destroys the disc
> or drum. There are bonded linings, bonded rivited, rivited, welded, and so
> on. Anything can be re-lined, made up, and lined. There are companies that
> do this. There is or was one really good one in Houston TX that does only
> that business. It can be very cost effective. It can also be too expensive
> depending upon the oddity of the core. Cores must be relined before the
> lining has been so chewed away that the core becomes damaged beyond re-use.
>
> Many pads, shoes, and clutch plates have expensive core charges you pay if
> you do not have an exchange reusable core. Especially on big trucks and
> heavy equipment it is very common to re-line because new replacement cost is
> three and four times more expensive. It is wrong for anyone to suggest a
> re-lined part is not as good as a new part. Many times a part can be relined
> many times better than what was ever available new. This is true especially
> for vintage parts with today's better bonding materials, linings, fasteners,
> and equipment technologies.
>
> Let me know if you want me to bother to look up, call, and confirm the
> rebuilder here in Houston.