[71Dually]

Greetings CCCC,

Thank you for the update.

Originally Posted by CCCC

OK... Has anyone had this experience - that is, shoes that got coated with lube...

Yes sir, I sure have.

Here's a tell tale sign pic:

Originally Posted by CCCC

...is replacement a must.

Mandatory, junk the shoes, they are contaminated, the bonding material in the linings is compromised and the required friction properties are gone. Your rear brakes will pull and lockup. Ever slide sideways from rear brake lockup? Ever do a brody on a Schwinn sting ray? Don't risk your classic MoHo or personal well being to save $60 bucks on the shoes. How do your drums look for specs? Maximum diameter is 13.09" so if a tape reads 13-1/8" (13.125) they are likely out of spec.

When you do go to get your parts take the drums and have them checked. Make sure they check them for out of round also. Leave the hubs and drums assembled. I know, they are real heavy but some places require them assembled in order to turn them, it's a lot more accurate machining them that way also.

If they can still be turned expect them to have to be sent out because "we can't turn big truck drums here". Find out where they send them and take them yourself, it's faster and won't include a middleman "markup." If they won't tell you where they send them I'd show them all the other parts I was looking to buy. Their business is there to help and sometimes "normal" customer service requires a referral in my opinion.

If your drums are out of spec consider the 14BFF brake swap. Serviceable Eaton drums are real hard to find and very likely expensive if you can find them at all. An extra added bonus with the swap is you will have more finned drums to remember later down the road.

Do not buy any parts until you have the drums checked. Ask me how I know, I bought all the Eaton stuff before checking my drums, installed everything and then checked the drums. They were beyond specs and out of round. But I needed the truck to run so I could pick up a flat bed I had bought so I installed the out of spec drums anyway and made the trip. Now I have to buy all the same (but different) parts over again to do the 14BFF brake swap.

If you do decide to do the brake swap, source the backing plates at a local JY. The 14BFF axles are quite common and backing plates are all over the place. A fellow forum member may even have a set. When you do get them make sure they are not bent and the brake shoe contact areas are not excessively worn. Backing plates may even be available new (I have never checked that but I do know that some are). For bare used ones I wouldn't pay more than $35.00 each at a full service yard. They should run no more than $15.00 each at a Pick-Your-Part yard. My local PYP yards charge $8.00 each for bare plates.

Make sure you get the BP's from a DRW truck. I've been told the SRW plates will work but I have not verified this. You may want to grab complete plates with shoes, springs, levers, wheel cylinders etc... that way you'll have all the parts required to check that the new parts are the same. You will also have anything that might not be immediately available like equalizers, emergency brake levers etc... if you buy the assembled backing plate. Expect to pay more for a BP with shoes, springs etc... compared to a bare plate. Price aside, the advantage of pulling parts from PYP yards gives you the advantage that you know what the parts came from vs. something that looks close grabbed from a big pile of parts.

One point to consider when shopping for backing plates. Most folks won't want to separate their brakes from a rear end unless the rear end has problems inside. A serviceable axle without brakes is harder to sell than a complete one. Pic-A-Part yards don't care, full service yards will charge even more $'s for the part if they have to pull them from a good complete axle. Craigslist sellers may not want to separate them at all.

Make sure you go to the parts store after the junk yard, then you will be all dirty and they will think you know what you are doing. They may even sell you the right parts. Oh, wait, that has never helped me before, they still try to sell me wrong parts. My normal conversations with the parts guys sometimes include the following spiels: "Why do you want to know if it has air conditioning when I only want rear wheel seals and axle flange gaskets sir?" and "Why do you need to know my year, make, model, engine, transmission and if it has power windows to look it up when all I want is a valve stem cap?" And "What!!! What do you mean 'what's a axle flange gasket?' How did you get that ASE certified parts pro patch on your shirt and not know what a truck axle flange is?" I'm a real monster over computer literate ignorance at the parts counter.

When you buy your parts include new 14BFF drums and some brake line tubing to make the rear lines while you are at the AP store. A double flare tool and tubing bender is mandatory when fabricating brake lines. Well, maybe not the bender so much but it will help to prevent kinking the new brake lines. A kinked brake line sounds like it would be an additional road trip into town for you. My parts store is about 1-1/2 miles round trip so it's only a couple gallons of gas in my C30 for the trip. Your milage may vary.

Replace the rear rubber hose at the same time you do all this, then you can feel safe and wont have to bleed the brakes twice. You will also be able to make sure you have the right flare nut fittings on your newly fabricated brake lines that fit the rubber hose end. Also check the wheel cylinder fitting size as the may be different from the hose. Last but not least, don't forget the longer 73 and up Dorman #610-193 wheel studs.

My caveat in all this is: I have not looked into the original emergency brake cables bolting up to the backing plates in this conversion. They look like they will fit but I have done nothing further with the cables than glance at the ones on my truck. I have only taken an even shorter glance at the 14BFF cables but my initial impression is they should be compatible. In my extensive research on this swap I have not read anything to the contrary to cable fitment and have no reason to believe they will not interchange. Besides, I needed a reason to throw in a caveat since I haven't posted one yet.

All the parts for the swap would be 73-86 DRW parts. Also check DRW G & P 30's (1-ton Cargo Box Vans (looks like a "Uhaul" truck) and Step Vans (looks like an ice cream truck)). The 14BFF DRW brakes are available in both 13" X 2-1/2" and 13" X 3-1/2" sizes. The brakes pictured on the axle in my previous post here in this topic are 3-1/2" ones pulled from a 1982 step van (P30).

Read this topic for more info on the brake swap: http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=536119

I figure with JY backing plates and all new brake parts including drums all this should run about $350 - $400 if you go the Manny Moe And Jack the price up type store route. RockAuto will save you money.

In closing, and trying not to be to presumptuous on your skill level, please, pre lube your hub bearings when you reassemble everything. If you don't, you can ruin the axle housing and the very expensive hub bearings. The factory manual details the mandatory procedure to pre lube them.

Good luck. Please keep us posted or check back if you would like more input.

P.S.

Where are the pictures?

We all like pictures.