Workshop Basics

Recycle your brake shoes by installing new friction material

T he friction linings of drum brakes inevitably need replacing from time-to-time. They degrade with age, wear out with use and suffer irreversible contamination from leaking brake cylinders and axle oil seals. If your classic’s a popular model and benefits from a healthy supply of spares, you can just buy a new set of shoes with linings pre-installed. If your classic’s not well-supported or parts for its are prohibitively expensive, though, you’ll have to take matters into your own hands.

Specialists can fit new linings to old brake shoes. However, if your linings are riveted rather than bonded, you can save time and money by replacing them yourself. It’s a quick and easy DIY job, requiring nothing more than a few hand tools.

Modern asbestos-free brake linings are available from a wide range of specialists – both industrial and classic car-specific. If you’re unable to find suitable linings in anyone’s stock, there are companies that can use an old shoe to make bespoke items. This is surprisingly inexpensive – from £12 per axle set. Lining suppliers will also be able to provide the correct rivets and corresponding punches.

Autojumbles and ebay are easy sources of replacement linings. However, it’s important to remember that the use of asbestos as an automotive friction material was only banned in 1999 – so there may still be a few asbestos linings in circulation. Fitting these to a car of any age has been prohibited since 2004 (see hse.gov.uk for further information).

All dust from friction linings is harmful, but dust containing asbestos fibres is particularly horrible. If in any doubt, assume that the old linings you’re removing do contain asbestos. Wear a respirator.

New linings will need to bed into the shoes as well as the drums. This is best achieved by light applications of the brakes to start with. Avoid prolonged heavy use until the linings have settled.

Remove brake shoes

Slacken the shoe adjusters, remove the drum retaining screws and slide off the drum. Douse the parts with brake cleaner or soapy water, release the shoe hold-down pins/springs, the return springs and any self-adjusting mechanisms. Remove the shoes.

Clean shoes

Check the shoes for damage and corrosion. File burrs from the rivet holes and remove all rust and paint from the mating face with abrasive paper or a belt sander. We soaked our shoes and backplates in a 9:1 water/molasses mix to strip off the rust.

Start forming the rivets

Clamp a parallel punch in a vice, so it bears on the vice below. Make sure the punch is smaller than the holes in the lining. Align each rivet squarely on the punch. Use the correct rivet punch to start forming each of the rivets, so they’re just holding.

Detach linings

Give the shoes another good dousing with brake cleaner or soapy water. Select a sharp drill bit that’s bigger than the rivets fitted to the shoes. Drill each rivet, taking care not to cause damage to the shoe. Use a parallel punch to tap the rivets out.

Prepare parts

Now’s a fine time to give the shoes a birthday. Treat them to a coat of self-etch paint that can withstand the high temperatures inside the drums. Check/replace the other brake parts. Renew the wheel cylinder rubbers as a matter of course.

Finish forming rivets

Make sure the lining is sitting uniformly against the shoe and the rivets are perfectly square to the face. Start at the centre again and finish forming the rivets, so that each is clinched firmly against the shoe. Drill out and redo dodgy ones.

Dispose of linings

Assume the friction material contains asbestos. Remove all the linings at the same time. Place the linings and any rags used for cleaning in a sealed plastic bag. Contact your local dump for advice on disposal (usually in a specific sealed skip).

Offer up linings

Make sure the rivets are a good fit in the holes in the shoe. Offer up the lining and loosely fit the central rivets. Now push rivets into the adjacent holes and work your way out to the ends of the shoe. Gently use a punch to align the holes, if necessary.

Refit shoes

Reassemble the backplate using the overhauled components. Make sure the return springs are correctly oriented. Use new spring washers or locking fasteners where necessary. Put high-melting point grease on moving parts.