400 Brakes

Hello. I have put new brake pads in my 1955 400 Farmall (new springs and balls too) it seems like I have to have the adjusting bolt tightened almost all the way in to get the recommended free travel. It is almost like the pads are too thin, even though they are thicker than the old ones. My question is do the brake housings need to be machined down so the pads don't have to be spread so far? Are my actuators (the peices that spread) wore too thin and need replacing? is there a measurement on the depth of the housings or thickness of the center pieces?
Thank you in advance for any and all help!

If that has the bolt on housing like my 2606, then yes you will need to get some machined off. There are other threads about it. I've read 6 thousands to 12 thousands. I took one in a couple months ago to get about 8 to 10 thousands taken off. Guess I should call and see if it is done and see how it works before doing the other one. The guy quoted me $45 to do one.

Tape a stack of washers in three places on the housing. This simulates thinner housing, or thicker disks. (do not drive it that way, just try the brake pedal travel) When right, and not binding when putting it together, machine off that amount from the mating edge. JimN

I might add that my actuators were rusty and not really making much contact. Not sure if new ones would still work or not. What was shiny and where the wear is was on the inner surface of the brake housing and the plate bolted to the rear end. Any of those parts may be costly to replace.

The balls were miked out to the right size so they weren't worn. The grooves in the actuator can wear down but from looking at my springs and working it by hand, the actuators seemed to spread normally.

The only way I had brakes was to put about 8 washers behind the adjusting ball/nut to get the brakes to bite. Without the washers and the adjusting ball screwed all the way in, then there were no brakes. I probably only needed 1 or 2 washers added on to get brakes but putting on 8 allowed me to keep the adjusting ball/nut out on the end of the bolt instead of screwing it in very far. Even then, the actuator is stretched out to about its limit and I suppose there is a danger of the balls slipping out of the groove when stretched to far.

The trick is not to take off too much so the pads are always touching and not to take off so little that after the pads wear down a little, you have on contact again. If you do take off too much, the pads will wear down anyway.

Anyway the washers behind the adjusting bolt worked for me around the barn moving hay. But I want to get the housings worked so I could take it down the road. A lot depends upon the use.

The washers as Jim suggested would be a good idea or make a shim out of sheet metal of something around .008" or so and then see where the adjusting bolt sits.

With the NEW discs and actuator stacked in the housing, you need .025" of clearance between the edge of the housing and side of the disc.

Thanks Rick for that info.

I was just going to add that you might be able to put feeler guages in through the dust cap on the housing to check for space.

Somewhere, I had put the calipers on my disks and actuator to get that thickness. Then you can put the housing on with one bolt and check the spacing inside through the dust cover.