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1930 Cadillac V-16 rear brake shoe replacement

Started by Amer Ahmad, November 08, 2017, 02:15:12 AM

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Amer Ahmad

I am changing the brake shoe leathers on my 1930 V-16 702298 Vanden Plas RHD, and while the front drums came off easily ( the nut has a reverse thread!) the rear ones are not coming off . There is a nut and washer with tabs easily removed. Then in my opinion it should have been a straight off affair, using an end puller and knock the drums firmly etc. Unfortunately it was not so.  My study of the section drawings of the rear hubs does not show any lock or key. What am I missing?

Amer Ahmad
Lahore, Pakistan
Amer Ahmad
1930 Cadillac V-16 702298 & 1956 Sedan deville
1929 Packard 740
1928 RR Phantom I
1975 De Tomaso Deauville
1945 Indian Chief, 1949 Harley WL 45 with Steib Chair
.470 NE Double Rifle
Dobby the Labrador

Steve Passmore

I have no knowledge of your year but all Cadillacs I have owned have the rear drums on a 'Taper' and it takes a really powerful puller to remove them, sometimes even a little heat.
Steve

Present
1937 60 convertible coupe
1941 62 convertible coupe
1941 62 coupe

Previous
1936 70 Sport coupe
1937 85 series V12 sedan
1938 60 coupe
1938 50 coupe
1939 60S
1940 62 coupe
1941 62 convertible coupe x2
1941 61 coupe
1941 61 sedan x2
1941 62 sedan x2
1947 62 sedan
1959 62 coupe

Mike Baillargeon #15848

#2
Hi Amer,

Here are a couple of shots of the rear brakes on my 1929 Roadster when I was restoring the car........I'm not sure but I would think the brake setups might be similar...These pictures aren't great but your right when the nut and the tabbed washer are taken off.........the hub should just pull off.

Maybe the shoes are really dug into the hubs.......There is a large adjusting nut at the top of the backing plate facing the inside of the chassis.  You can see in my pictures that if you turn that nut a little bit one way or the other the shoes will get tighter to the hub or loosen.

Mike  #15848
Mike
Baillargeon
#15848

Steve Passmore

Steve

Present
1937 60 convertible coupe
1941 62 convertible coupe
1941 62 coupe

Previous
1936 70 Sport coupe
1937 85 series V12 sedan
1938 60 coupe
1938 50 coupe
1939 60S
1940 62 coupe
1941 62 convertible coupe x2
1941 61 coupe
1941 61 sedan x2
1941 62 sedan x2
1947 62 sedan
1959 62 coupe

Hilarius

Steve is right. Also on the end-20s and early 30s cars the rear axle shafts have a taper that the drums are pressed on by the large nut.
Everything on cars of these years is about twice as large and solid as on the later ones. Same with the axle shafts and the drums. Very solid!! I suppose your drums haven't been off the car for a long time.
You will need an extra strong puller that doesn't give even under severe forces.
Your drum will come off with a supersonic bang.
Here are two pics to show the interior of the brake and the taper.
Good luck.
Hilmar.
Hilmar Schneider #26898
1930-162, "353", 4D-SDN-7P
1940-7567, 2D-CCP-2/4P
1948-7519X, 4D-SDN-5P
1952-6019X, 4D-SDN-5P
1973 Mercedes 107R, 2D-CCP-2P
2015 Cadillac SRX, 4D-SDN-5P

Johan Boltendal #158

What you see in the pictures is , when the tapered axle with hub are already off. Taken off by loosening the 8 or ten nuts holding the axle hub.
You take the whole assembly out this way. If you loose the big axle nut and try this way to get the drum and hub off. You will not succeed without a strong puller , a heat torch and a big hammer.

Chris Cummings

Hi Amer,

The rear brake drums of 1930 V-16 Cadillacs are relatively easy to remove.  You take off the wheel and you will see the hub that the wheel was bolted to.  Remove the nuts where the hub is attached to the brake drum and you can pull the hub (with the axle shaft attached to it) out of the car.  Then you will see that big nut you wrote about.  When you remove that nut, the brake drum with the bearing should just slide off the end of the rear axle housing.  It's very heavy, and the bearing grease may have gotten sticky.  But if you work on it, it should come free.  There shouldn't be any need for heat or a hammer or a puller tool. 

The only place on the rear wheel assembly where there is a taper fit is where the axle shaft inserts into the hub, but you don't need to worry about that.

I hope that helps.

Chris Cummings


Amer Ahmad

Thank you very much for all the good advice. I am going to go to the least effort method as suggested by Chris. Hopefully it will work . Will report . As I am doing the work on my car all by myself, I will get support staff for heavy haul. Already all my body aches and knuckles are in pain . Car is almost done with upholstery remaining pending. ( No requisite expertise remaining in Lahore. My resource chap had a stroke, came about, quoted an astronomical price and before I could make up my mind to pay through my nose, died.)

Amer Ahmad
Amer Ahmad
1930 Cadillac V-16 702298 & 1956 Sedan deville
1929 Packard 740
1928 RR Phantom I
1975 De Tomaso Deauville
1945 Indian Chief, 1949 Harley WL 45 with Steib Chair
.470 NE Double Rifle
Dobby the Labrador

Chris Cummings

This is the hub and axle shaft assembly from the left rear wheel of my car.  The large-diameter threaded end at lower right in the photo is where the hub cap screws on.  Next to it is the flange with the threaded holes into which the wheel lug nuts screw.  The large flange out of which the axle shaft emerges has holes to receive the six threaded studs on the brake drum.  Undoing the nuts on those studs allowed me to draw the hub and axle out of the rear axle housing.

Chris Cummings

And this is the left rear brake drum, exposed when I removed the wheel and the hub/axle assembly.  The six threaded studs coming out of the brake drum hold the hub (and attached axle shaft) in place.  The open tube at the center is the (cylindrical, threaded) end of the rear axle housing.  Covered with grease is the large nut (and its keeper) that secures the bearing retainer (to which the brake drum is bolted, and into which the bearing is pressed).  The brake drum/bearing assembly should slide freely on the end of the rear axle housing, held in place only by that big nut.

I had to disassemble my rear wheel this far because a previous owner had failed to push the brake drum/bearing assembly all the way onto the end of the rear axle housing before bending the keeper to hold the nut in place, and there was 1/8-3/16" of end play.  Once I had snugged big nut down properly, there was no need for further disassembly. 

I hope this is helpful.

Chris

Chris Cummings

And finally, here's a completely disassembled example.  The flange with bolt holes is for mounting the brake backing plate that the brake shoes work from.  The threaded open end of the rear axle housing is what that big nut in the earlier photo screws onto.  The smooth cylindrical surface after the threaded end is where the wheel bearing assembly goes.  Take off the big nut, and the brake drum and wheel bearing should slide off as a unit.

Best regards,

Chris Cummings

Amer Ahmad

Thank you very much. I had changed the fronts, ( piece of cake) and postponed the rears till I finished the restoration. Now that I drive the car, its imp to change these per your instructions. I have a feeling that the vacuum booster is not working too. The rubber diaphragm etc.  are new.

Amer Ahmad
Amer Ahmad
1930 Cadillac V-16 702298 & 1956 Sedan deville
1929 Packard 740
1928 RR Phantom I
1975 De Tomaso Deauville
1945 Indian Chief, 1949 Harley WL 45 with Steib Chair
.470 NE Double Rifle
Dobby the Labrador