farmall BN brakes

I have a 1947 farmall BN.my brakes do not hold. is there any common problems that i should know about or does it just need new shoes.

thank youfor your help
Scott,Douglassville,PA

No they are just worn as i assume you have tighteden the linkage. You can get bonded linnings or get the linning and rivet them your self. I reline my own as i have lots of time ialso put the drum in the lathe and take a sharp tool make a slight cut on the drum sure gives the new linning something to grab to.

It depends some on what you mean by "not hold."

If they just aren't stopping the tractor the way they should, it could be a number of things. You may be able to tighten them up. Follow the arms on your pedals to the rods that tighten the bands (you have bands, not shoes). Remove the clevis from the rod (the pins are often worn and need driving or prying out) and thread the clevis further onto the rod and then reconnect. (If the rod falls out at this stage, you'll need to replace the rod and band, which are a single piece.)

Assuming nothing is brooken, correct adjustment procedure sounds a little weird but is right. You need to jack both sides of the rear up and then let it back down so that your drawbar rests on blocks to hold the rear tires up off the ground enough to turn freely. Start the tractor and put in gear just to get both tires turning. Then apply the brakes. Adjust them so that each wheel stops. If one stops before the other, back off the adjustment (loosen) the one that stops first until they stop at the same time.

If that doesn't do it, you likely have one of two other problems. The first would be that the lining on the bands is just worn out or separated from the band. The other is that they may be saturated with oil. Both brakes are situated on the differential shaft right next to a seal that tends to leak with age. If you see a lot of built up oil, dirt and chaff at the drain holes in the shaft housing right under the brakes (outer end on the right side, up against the transmission on the left), this is a good possibility. Checking either out will require some heavy disassembly, but it's not an ugly job.

For all that, if the brakes work to stop the tractor but you can't find a spot on the pawl to lock them on to park the tractor . . . two thoughts come to mind. The little pawl that flips over and the ratchet on the right brake pedal sometimes wear to a rounded state that they can't really hold. That can be fixed with a little light file work on either part as needed so that they mate and hold under tension. If that's all in good order, the other is that your brakes may have worn just enough that you're between teeth on the ratchet and pawl and can't find a spot with enough tension to hold. That can be fixed with just a slight tightening adjustment like I described up above, just enough to get you into a tooth that will hold it.

HTH

by not hold i meen that going frontwards they will stop the tractor on flat ground.but backing off the trailer they offer no resistance,

In that case, you can benefit from trying an adjustment to tighten them. That failing, you could clean or reline/replace them.

Bottom line, though, is that that's one of the weak spots of the design of the brakes on the A, B/BN, and Cub. Beacuse all the tension is applied through the rod to only one end of the band, the geometry and forces at work on them will make them more effective in one direction than another. Given that the tractor is logically capable of greater speed in forward gears than in reverse, they're set up so that forward is the direction with the greater effect.

The C, H and M had a cam mechanism so that tension was aplied from both ends of the band.

Adjustment/relining/replacement (and a little roughing up of the drum as Gene mentioned) will help, but you'll never have the braking in reverse that you do going forward. It's pretty much the nature of the beast. My '47 BN stops quite well going forward and the brakes are adequate for backing just the tractor off of a trailer (10' of dovetail and ramp off a deckover trailer). Where mine show up as weak is in backing off the trailer with an implement (like my #100 spreader) behind.

If you follow the advice of those below and decide you need to replace your linings as Gene was saying below, Steiner has a nifty little rivet tool for brakes in their catalog this season. I ordered one and used it to replace a set of oiled up brake linings and it works very good. As always, be careful with the punch side as these can break if you go crazy on it. It made the riveting very easy. As for not being an ugly job, that will depend on if oil has been getting into your brakes for a long time. The combination of brake dust and oil is a nasty black tarry mess all over everything inside the drum. It all needs to come out and the leak stopped or your new liners may not last long. Once again Steiner had some new axle seals for the tractor I last did that were very similar to the seals we use on our 4WD utility on the front final drives. Seems to be a nice product also but I don't know if they are made for the BN. Whatever you use, stop the leaking. Let us know how it goes!
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