I need to reattach the connecting rods for the parking brake. Which of the 2 holes in the hub should have the swivel pin? If is the front one, how does the rod thread its way through that fitting. Does anyone have a photo?

Here you go. This is on my '14. Ignore the broken support arm dangling in front of the pull clevis.



What is the welded piece over the brake shoe pivot bolt hole on your housing for?

R.V.'s Picture looks correct. Your picture looks as though the backing plate has been modified for some type of auxiliary brake. The hole toward the radius rod shown on the left side of the pictures, is for the brake shaft. The side toward the brake drum has an operating cam which is one piece with the shaft. The arm is rivited to on the outside of the backing plate. There are rights and lefts which are different from each other, so you need the right one for this backing plate. However, the backing plate doesn't look right in the picture. It should be built out as shown in R.V.'s picture. The back side of the backing plate has been modified. The piece welded on is for some type non stock brake. The hole in the center should have a bolt which holds the brake shoes in place for the parking brake.

You might need to find another set of backing plates and rivit them on, or find another housing with correct backing plates to fix this correctly. Otherwise it will take some welding and grinding to make it right.
Norm

What should the rear of the disc look like? R.V's picture only shows in front of the axle.

Thanks

Here's what the inside and outside of a '17-'25 small drum axle backing plate should look like.

Yours has been welded on to add "pads" for mounting some type of non-stock out side brakes. To fit the parking/emergency shoes, there needs to be the bushing and cam shaft on the leading edge, and the anchor bolts on the trailing edge of the Ford backing plate. Seems those "pads" will interfere with going back to stock....

Henry,

Your backing plates have been so heavily modified that I don't really believe it's possible to reinstall a parking brake.

Here's a lever and rod on my 1915.



Here's what the stock backing plates look like.


Left: 1915 (without ribs); right: later (with ribs). Note that the 1915 plate is missing the bushing for the brake cam shaft, but the later plate shows the bushing.

It seems that the difference between mine and stock, is the welded addition of the yoke on the backing plate (towards the rear of the car). That would interfere with the nut for that back bolt, which forms the pivot point for the 2 shoes? Am i seeing it correctly?

Also, what prevents that nut from bottoming on the pads? If it was overtightened, wouldn't it prevent the pads from moving?

It looks like the boss has been removed where the shaft goes through your backing plate between the ends of the radius rod as shown on your first picture. Instead of the boss there is a square indentation. It could be fixed with some welding on a piece and boring it out to fit. The repair would be more costly than replacing the housing or backing plate. The bolt which forms the pivot has a is larger than the hole but the threaded portion fits in the hole. The bolt cannot be pulled tight enough to bind on the shoes because of this offset.

Norm

What is the hole size for the camshaft bushing? How tight a fit is the bushing?

Henry, this is the bushing. There is a steel one which is cheaper but, the cam will fit loose in it. The brass is better. https://www.modeltford.com/item/2559A.aspx

Stephen

Does anyone have drawings or dimensions for the cam boss in a 17-25 backing plate? I know some on this forum have drawings of parts. I am looking for the id of the hole the cam bushing fits in, as well as the depth (thickness of the boss itself).

Thanks.

Measuring the holes on a few backing plates, the id appears to be .700" on all of them. I don't know the vintage of these housings. On some the depth is 1", on some it's .840" and on others I found .750". Whatever depth yours happens to be doesn't matter, because the bushing is longer. I believe the id of the bushing is supposed to be ½". You may have to run a reamer through it to insert the new cam.

The Id of the bushing is 1/2" like Steve said. If you use the brass one it will be necessary to ream the hole a little.

Stephen

The under-car rod that is turned by the parking brake handle - how much left-right play should that have? I am finding enough play such that pushing it to one side can cause the left pedal follower pin to nearly fall off the pad on which it rides. Is there a way to adjust, or does it involve installing washer?

Steve: Your shackle is in backwards! Turn it over!

Does anyone have an answer on the question above about play in the parking brake handle?

There can be some side play, but not so much the pawl risks missing the quadrant or the clutch lever screw risks falling off its cam. Usually parts can be adjusted so it isn't a problem.

Henry, working under this car I remembered your question, so took a couple of pictures.


As you can see here, there's not much space, if any, between the bracket and the brake lever.


The same is true at the other end. If you have enough play to make the cam miss the adjusting screw, something's very much amiss.

Steve,

Thanks for the photo's. Here are some showing what I have. There is play in both sides. Enough to have the screw fall off the cam. Any ideas?

Appears by your photo the cam on the cross shaft is a tad bent, that can allow the clutch lever bolt to slip off.

Relax the clutch and use some monkey wrenches to re-shape that cam arm position for the bolt to have good contact.

The play looks too like it's too much on both sides. Maybe the curve of the cross shaft under the transmission has been modified or damaged, maybe the frame is off?
Check the width of the frame by the cross shaft and close to the front and rear crossmembers - should be about the same.

If the frame is off you can probably push it back with a hydraulic jack - but you'll have to disassemble a lot from the frame first..

If the frame is about right, then you can fix it by putting washers between the handle and the bearing block on the LH side and between the arm and the bearing on the RH side. Takes a bit of work since you have to drill out rivets, pull off levers and rerivet. Often it's easier to find another lever/cross shaft assembly if that's the one that's off.

One quick shade tree fix to stop the cross shaft from sliding sideways would be to drill small holes through the shaft close to the inner side of both bearing blocks, then install long enough cotter pins. They would stop any side movement and the cotter pins would likely hold up for a long time since the axial forces are quite small.

Looks to me like the play is only about 1/8" in either direction. You can turn the bolt upside-down to use the bolt head as a much wider bearing surface. Get the ramp centered as Dan said, and you should be good to go.