QUESTION ON SUPER M DISC BRAKE REBUILD

Howdy, boys:
I am rebuilding the brakes on my SM and need to know from those of you with more experience than I, is it adviseable to lube the actuator balls with a little graphite? I have an original IH disc brake manual and it does not mention any kind of lube.... I have cleaned everything, and bead blasted the pockets on the actuators, new springs and balls. Thanks in advance.
mike

Mike, I rebuilt the disc brakes on my 340 a while back and I put them back together dry. That said, I did think about lubing those with some anti-seize, don't think it would of hurt if you didn't use to much. Mine work okay dry. PUTTER

I know its not a Super M, but the last one I rebuilt with disc brakes was a 200 a couple of years ago. I put just enough (Something, dont remeber what it was now, probably white lithium) on ball to keep it lubed and not stick. Did that on every moving surfce where things would rub against each other.. AFAIK, they still work fine. I sold it to a friend of mine and he hasnt ever said anything about the brakes giving him problems.

The graphite is fine as it will not collect brake dust .But the big thing here is that the ramps be clean and smooth and the balls nice and shine . If your balls are rusty then get new ones and replace the springs . A little never seize is fine on the headed pins and the adjusting nuts . Make sure that the disc's slide free on the splines .

I'd say the lube, if any, is your choice.

Two schools of thought. One is that if you've got everything good and clean as it sounds like you do, there isn't any need to lube it as far as operation goes. A little graphite wouldn't hurt, I suppose, as long as you blow most of it back off before assembly. You really don't want anything slippery in around your brakes, right? And some would think that anything by way of a sticky lube like grease or never-seize would only attract brake dust in operation and perhaps gum things up to actually impede operation later on.

So the flip side is to leave them dry and make sure that everything is bolted down well and that you've got good rubber and a good fit on the boots. Even with that, if you were to leave it parked for an extended period with the brake set, you might find that the balls and actuators are one more thing that might develop a little rust and bind, causing the brakes to stick . . .

I haen't lubed mine and the one time the brakes on one side wanted to stick, they came free really easily and, from that point, I simply left the tractor in gear without the brakes set when parking it.

I think you'd be okay either way. If you do lube with anything it should be very sparingly and of a type so that there isn't enough to thin out and run onto the discs when things get warmed up.

That's my two cents.

I like a modest spray of TriFlow with Teflon on the balls/grooves only. It is non sticky, but aids motion, and seems to reduce moisture effects. JimN

ScottyHOMEy hits it on the head.
I have a Fordson Super Major which has the same disc brake system as my Super W6. I aquired the service manual from the previous owner which includes a 'service bulletin' that instructs that no lubrication is to be applied to the ball-ramps. They are to be asembled clean and dry. To paraphrase the bulletin; the issue is that lubrication "invites the collection of debris".

I did my 2606 with a little anti-seize on the balls. Mine don't have the dust caps so they are open to the world. If they gunk up, then it is a quick repair. I put anti-seize on the 5 mounting bolts and the adjusting ball threads.

mike: If your going to use any lubricant, use one that dries, and use it very spareingly. You don't want lub on the breaking surface, and you don't want a product that will collect dust. The only one I know of that completely fits that discription is graphite.

If you were using this tractor 500 hours plus per year I'd say use nothing. If it's less than 100 hours per year, graphite will slow rust formation on the balls and in the pockets. It your in between 100 and 500 hours per year it's your call. Either way, cleaning disc brakes is an annual event. Big hours will create dust from use of brakes, while low hours will create rust from lack of use.

Who said you could keep a tractor around and have no maintenence. So far the only one's I've seen are the one's that sit on my mantle. Even then my good better half demands they be dusted, thus she creates another job for herself.