I've been working on my '66 F250 so that I'll have a functioning truck. My '65 F100 is on hold while I get this other one on the road. I thought I was nearing the end when it occurred to me that I should at least pull a wheel and check the condition of the brakes. As I recall years ago the brakes seemed fine at that time. I pulled a front drum off yesterday. Wow, I can't believe that the previous owner, a school district would allow the brakes to wear to such an extent. I've never seen a drum this badly worn. The shoes were down to the rivets, which acted like a cutting tool on the drum. Pictures below. Funny that I don't recall any squeal when I drove it briefly when I first got the truck, then parked it while the years flew by.

Anyhow, my current question is the retention bolt on the rear drum. It's much larger than anything I have. Is there a workaround? I'd hate to have to buy a wrench for a one-time use. Suggestions?



My DS front drum. Seeing this is when I suddenly realized that this refurbishment just became a whole lot more costly.

The corresponding brake shoe worn past the rivets.

Rear drum with the axle removed

Subject nut in the center.

 

Two of those nuts per side with the locking tab washer between them. Lots of shops and DIYers use a chisel to take it on and off. Crude solution that is. Since I have a few F250s with the Dana 60 I bought the tool. If you were close by, I'd run it over. A normal socket of the same size won't usually even work because of the somewhat rounded corners of the nut.





That washer with tabs that get bent over that keep those dudes from loosening up - I'd call these critical since you don't want those nuts to loosen up at all. They set the bearing pressure so it's nice to use a torque wrench, too.



Some of mine were so bad from prior incorrect tool usage I found some more new ones. I think Quad 4x4 might carry reproductions of them.

 

In 1967 Ford changed to a 2 9/16" nut size for those when the Dana 60 was redesigned.

 

Crisis averted. I forgot that I have a friend whose son took over his heavy equipment business. One call was all it took. I measured 2 5/16ths across the flats but all he had was 2 3/8ths like the one you showed. I took it on faith and it worked like a charm. Fortunately, he said I can hold on to it for awhile as they don't use it. That's great because my truck is parked too close to a retaining wall for me to remove the axle shaft on the other side.

The good news too, is that the drum looks salvageable with no scoring. I'll check max dia spec and see where I am. I will definitely replace the shoes as they are worn. The wheel cylinders are not leaking, at least on the DS of the truck. I will replace all rubber lines as cheap insurance and may decide on wheel cylinders as well if I can save my rear drums.

Btw, the socket I borrowed looked exactly like yours and was made by OTC, should anyone want to order one.

Also, looking at the overhaul manual (OHM) there is no mention of torque spec in the text so I'm assuming it's just tight to the point of slightly binding and then back off a bit.

I'm glad I waited until I disassembled the drums before I ordered parts. The hardware is similar to the '65 F100 hardware, but the youTube videos I saw showed a whole different configuration of springs and such. Be careful out there. I was so confused by what's available online that I gave up in frustration last night. I have a better feel for what I need now.

 

I just use 10-15 ft lbs but the usual method you mentioned is still the gold standard. No more than 25 ft lbs in any case.

 

Just for the record, some neanderthal was here before me. I would have tried to fab a tool first before assaulting the nuts like this. I'd be upset if a shop did this on my dime.

 

Some of the ones on my trucks were so hashed I had to use a dremel with a grinding tip to remove material just to be able to get the socket on them. Chisel is not the correct tool to use.

 

While you’re in there, rebuild the wheel cylinders. If not, they will immediately leak all over the new shoes you buy.
If they aren’t really pitted up in the bore, it’s an easy, inexpensive fix. If they are pitted in the area that rides on the cups, and honing won’t clear it up, replace the whole cylinder.
Cheap insurance.

 

yup. I can't argue with your logic. I'm getting deeper and deeper into this truck. Who hasn't been down THIS road before? I just removed the DS front drum and it was even in worse condition. The shoes were down to within a hair's breath of the metal base. Interestingly, the PS king pin seems tight, but the DS is loose. I dread dealing with it because I had such a difficult time removing one of the king pins on my F100 last summer. I do not want to liberate all the I-beams and such at this time.

Confounding all this effort is the dilemma that I am scrapping my '74 F250 and it has front disk brakes on it. I can't spend the time swapping over and I don't necessarily hate drum brakes now that I'm really familiar with them. I'm tending towards dropping all my "wanna's" with so-called upgrading and just donate the '74 to charity and have it out of my life and clear up space. i know people like to modernize their trucks when possible and I'm one of them but it's really tearing me apart knowing all the so-called goodies that are available to me with the '74.

 

Honestly, I’d keep the disk brake front end from the 74. You can have disk brakes for the same price as drums.
Also, Harbor Freight has a little hydraulic press that’s small enough to slide under the front spindle and press out the kingpins. I think it’s a 12 ton? Maybe a 6?
I have one that I bought specifically for that purpose. I’ve checked the clearance, and it fits.

 

Oh how I wish I was around the corner, I would love to "help you out with those '74 Disk brakes"...that and...You still into 02's? I used to have a '72 tii that, like a dummy, I sold to my brother some 30 years ago. He scraped it a few months later, said it had too much rust, but I don't think the shock towers had any, and it even had a sunroof. Well, live and learn.

 

It is with a heavy heart that I may just donate the whole truck to charity. I just listed the 390FE engine on Craigslist and already got a response. It's just that my goal is to get my '66 running ASAP so that I can proceed with a small remodel on my house. I'm not a spring chicken anymore and time is worth more than upgraded brakes. I just looked at the greasy grimy bits and the thought of many hours on my back fighting with frozen bolts. Also, looking at the brake booster and the extra plumbing involved just kills me. The '66 is not even a truck that I plan to keep in the long run anyways.

As for the 02's, I have several non-runners including 3 tii roundies. Got them when they still existed for under $1000. I have an Alpina A4 setup for one of them. I have an early 72tii Vin 2760403. And I have a 1960 Alfa Romeo Guillietta Spider Veloce that needs extensive rust repairs. Sooooo, choices must be made and I'll keep the '66 F250 bone stock and original.

 

In my 1970 shop manual, the procedure for those axle nuts on F250's is to torque the adjusting (inner) nut to 50-80 fl lbs while rotating the wheel. Back off the adjusting nut 1/6 to 1/4 turn. Install the lock washer and the lock nut. Torque the lock nut to 90-110 fl lbs. With the lock nut at proper torque, the wheel assembly should rotate freely with end play 0.001 too 0.010 inch. (Manual forgets to mention bending tabs on the lock washer).

The axle shaft retaining bolts should be torqued to 40-50 ft lbs

The purpose of cranking down the adjusting nut and then backing it off is to seat the bearings. Morons that tap it on with a chisel and hammer or similar are asking for trouble. TA455HO is usually spot on with the info so I'm wondering where the 25 ft lbs came from...that's a bit low...I never seat bearings that low or trailers, wagons, trucks, etc.

 

If you go to 50-80 and back off 1/16-1/4 turn how much is it torqued to? I was saying mine is about 10-15 ft. lbs. Just did the procedure you mentioned, and it seems about right to me. Since the 1966 manual doesn't seem to say I made a recommendation based off of what my torque wrench is telling me, but I haven't measured runout - not seeing the recommended runout in the 1966 manual either, but perhaps it's there somewhere. Carry on with what you know.

 

Front spindle nuts and trailer spindle nuts are more like "...torque 25 to 50 ft lbs, back off 1/4 turn, then retighten to 25 inch lbs..." 25 inch lbs is roughly snugged up by hand (gripping the socket bare handed and snugging the nut).

In fact, fast forward to 2002, my 3/4 ton with full floating axle says to ..."torque the nut to 50 ft lbs while spinning the hub, back off 1/4 turn, and retighten hand tight....there should be no pre load, but no free play either..."

Hopefully this gives the OP a little clearer picture. Basically seat the bearings fairly tight, loosen, hand tighten and then make sure they can turn easily without slop.

The OP should watch the lock washer inner tab does not break off when tightening the locking nut...I did that once.