Hot Rods Boling Brothers Brake Question

I've installed the Boling Brothers Brake Kit on my 36 Ford Roadster. Replaced 48 Ford backing plates with the 39-48 Kit (picture 1). The brake shoe retaining springs sticks out slightly past the edge of the 1 3/4" brake shoes about 1/8" (picture 2). So the spring retainer interferes with the backside of the wheel studs on the drums (picture 3). Has anyone run into this problem and if you did, how did you fix it? Already called Boling and all they could do was verify I have the right #8 pins for my kit. Thinking about putting a washer on the back of the backing plate where the retaining ring pin goes through but that will cause the spring to have to compressed even more.

 

Never ran into that before, but I'd agree with your washer plan, that and/or removing a coil or so from the retaining spring to maintain a similar tension profile

 

I've seen a heavy split pin used for the same application, adjustable to any length, and they worked good..

 

I don't see how cutting a spring coil will solve the problem as the pin length
will remain the same.

 

Those pins and springs are used on everything, the only real difference is the length, decide how much shorter it need to be and buy some the correct length. Googling “brake shoe retainer x mm” will come up with loads of options.

 

Ps is it me or is the right pin longer than the left one in the photo?

 

Their telling you it is right does not make it so
The proper length / height ( how ever you want to say it ) is what you need.

 

Id keep it simple & try the washer plan first.
Probably just another case of mass produced product with poor quality control.

 

Lots of room for compression on those springs. Shorter pins or your washer fix will work. Obviously the wrong length pins sent with the kit, regardless of the # on the pin.

 

I bet it’s another case of mixing parts that never were intended to fit together. Some 36 drums on Lincoln brakes are few and far between. Henry never designed them together. I bet 39 drums would fit okay.

 

If he puts a washer on the backside, and was concerned about the increased spring load on the brake assembly, he could cut a coil off the spring to bring the load/distance back to roughly what it was before.

 

One question, Did they say that they will work with wide 5 drums? or they intended to be used only with 40/41 drums? Looking at this drum I snagged the photo of off Ebay it looks like there is a lot more space for the springs right in that area. The "never had a problem" may mean that you are the first guy running wide five drums that has bought that set or the others just figured it out and made the changes to make it work. There a lot of inch and three quarter Bendix style brake shoes out there so finding shorter pins and springs shouldn't be an issue.
As long as the springs don't have coil bind I don't see any issue with putting a washer or more on the back side of the backing plate take up space though.

 

UPDATE PROBLEM RESOLVED: For anyone referencing this for the same problem in the future the backing plates I replaced were 48 Ford on which I was running 39 Wide Fives to accommodate the original juice brake conversion. To cure the problem I placed enough washers on the backside of the backing plate to bring the retaining spring to almost flush with the brake shoes. Any thicker and the spring is so tight shoes won't budge and I'm pretty sure they need to float some amount otherwise why not just put a bolt in to hold them down. Now the 39 drums turn freely. Thanks for all the replies with suggestions. And by the way the kit is correct with the #8 retaining spring pins which are 2". I also have a set of late 40 drums. I put them on before the washer trick and they had no interference.

 

How does the unusual use of a two piece wide 5 drum that is causing the interference with an otherwise standard assembly equate to "poor quality control" on Boling Bros part?

 

This kit was not designed or intended to be used with Wide-5 drums.

They work perfectly with later drums.

 

Nope.

These folks don't sell junk.

 

It is always good when the OP explained how they solved a problem they have posted about with the help of fellow Hamber's

 

It’s even better without comments like bad quality control or allegations of bad information from the producers of the kit.
Or wrongly telling someone to cut coils off of the springs.
That sort of Mickey Mouse engineering doesn’t work for suspensions and it doesn’t work for other coil springs either.

Boling Bros/ MT products sell a top quality brake kit.
I know, I’m running one on my 26 RPU.

 

@RICH B @gimpyshotrods @Blue One
No no no... I wasnt referring to Boling Brothers selling poor quality products. Im up to speed on thier work. My bad if it came accross that way.
I was assuming those little spring retainer pins were probably mass produced in an offshore factory by the millions and might just be a bit "off" standard.
Im sure yall know that is plenty common in dealing w aftermaket parts, new parts ect..
My post was geared towards getting the OP Marks brake job moving forward. Not throwing shade on the B.Brothers or thier kits.
Its all good my brothers. Im glad the problem is solved ! Im on the HAMB to learn, help out where I can, & crack jokes w my buds. In this instance I was trying to be helpful, & learned something too.

 

Good that your problem is resolved. Oddly, I had the same problem with their backing plates and their drums. The spring retainers stuck out past the shoe. 3 flat washers under the pin head cured the problem and we're closing in on 20,000 miles since.

 

The only thing bad about their kits is -- no self adjusting parts are included

 

As it should be. No self adjusting parts were on the originals that these kits are a re creation of.

 

Seems weird they would have used a #1 pin; those are usually for 2-1/4" wide shoe. I can see why they stuck up too far.

I use #4 pins for 2" shoes and #2 pins for 1-3/4" shoes.

 

Getting a shorter pin would be an easy fix in my opinion.