An $1800 brake job

"MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s" (mastermario)
08/29/2016 at 16:22 • Filed to: wrenching, garage

My friends dad is doing a body off restoration of a 1947 International pickup like the one below. He was having trouble finding drums for the brakes so he found someone who finds hard to find auto parts. The guy called him the other day and said he had good and bad news. Good new...he found a set of drum brakes for the truck, bad news...they are going to cost $250 a piece x 4 = $1000 just for the drums. Then add everything he needs to rebuild the rest of the brake system and voila you have an $1800 brake job on an American pickup.

DISCUSSION (34)

red_ > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 16:23

Could a machine shop have just remade the original ones?

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 16:24

I’d find a way to convert to disc brakes at that point. Has to be cheaper, especially in the long run.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 16:26

Think I’m with adabofoppo here. Disc brake conversion would be safer, cheaper and easy to hide. Although I understand if theyre trying to go for 100% originality.

shop-teacher > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 16:27

I’d do a disc conversion, but I’m not a resto guy.

E90M3 > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 16:27

Did AMG makes the brakes for that truck or something? Sounds about right for an AMG break job.

SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 16:28

Does it use some weird lug format for the hub? I’d upgrade and put in spacers if the replacement’s too narrow.

Takuro Spirit > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 16:33

Damn orphan brands.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 16:35

KB 1,2, or 3? I love the K/KB trucks, but it’s certainly helpful to know that some of the brake parts are unobtanium. My dad has a ‘70s Loadstar, but I don’t believe we’ve had to replace drums on it, and relining the shoes is easy enough...

Oddly enough, that’s not the first K/KB to make it to the pages of Oppo. Bandit’s family owns a war years big K of some kind - I think it’s a K5 or K6.

Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 16:41

Re-title this to $1800 BJ and get more hits.

Die-Trying > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 16:42

for $1800 you can get a VERY “decent” parts donor truck, that ought to have brakes on it............

Batman the Horse > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 16:49

Fuggit just do a disc upgrade.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
08/29/2016 at 16:51

I think he wants it to be as original as possible, but yea if it were mine, that would be my route

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
08/29/2016 at 16:53

Not sure, I’ll have to ask, I don’t know a whole lot about International trucks and all he said was that is was a 1947

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy
08/29/2016 at 16:53

You must work for Buzzfeed

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > SidewaysOnDirt still misses Bowie
08/29/2016 at 16:54

I think it’s some-what self inflicted pain since he is trying to keep it as original as possible

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > red_
08/29/2016 at 16:55

Haha, that’s not a bad idea. It is basically just a metal bowl with some holes drilled in it.

Camshaft Chris: Skyline/McLaren/Porsche Fanboy > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 17:05

I don’t currently, but my jokes (and soul) are currently for sale!

Bandit - destroyed his car > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 17:15

To be fair, just to add brake fluid to the system requires the removal of the floor and some of the pedals which is a real pain in the ass.

Kinja'd!!!

His is a bit shinier than ours with its the original army paint.

Kinja'd!!!

Bandit - destroyed his car > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
08/29/2016 at 17:16

Oh hi there! Good memory, we’ve got a K1 http://oppositelock.kinja.com/tag/1946-inter…

Bandit - destroyed his car > shop-teacher
08/29/2016 at 17:18

Honestly, the factory drums on these things are pretty “good”. There isn’t a whole lot to these trucks and they don’t really like to go any faster than 45mph so they get the job done.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 17:20

I’m guessing the original ones were cracked or rotted beyond machining. As to making a fresh one - it’s a cast with no voids, needs to be a certain weight and hardness, have a certain thickness and machinable width. Objectively the “easiest” thing to do is to get a close match on an existing drum, and possibly have a machine shop redo the lug pattern. It *is* possible to machine brake drums out of billet, but I saw that done for a Ruxton in a build thread, and I think it was ~$1k per drum. At least with drum brakes you don’t have as much to worry about offset as with discs and have more standardized diameters, so it’s probably easier to find a partial match. Apart from there being limited tables of parts on that basis.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 17:22

The K series trucks replaced the D series trucks, which were a bit more Streamline Moderne. The new Lonestar trucks look a little more like a D. After WWII they updated the K series trucks to KB, which for the little trucks (KB1-3) meant an expanded lower fake grill and some minor drivetrain stuff.

Monkey B > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 17:31

I appreciate his conviction...some things need to be preserved properly.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
08/29/2016 at 17:36

Yea, not sure what was wrong with the old ones but he said they weren’t salvageable

Chasaboo > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 17:39

French isn’t your strong suit.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Bandit - destroyed his car
08/29/2016 at 17:40

Yup, I don’t remember the exact number but I believe he said the engine puts out something south of 50hp

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Bandit - destroyed his car
08/29/2016 at 17:43

That’s not a picture of his, just one I found on Google. His is currently a frame and drive train with brakes being the current project. He hasn’t started restoring any of the body yet.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 17:44

You got me worried, so I looked up what’s available for my ‘59 Lincoln with DOOM SIZE front drums. Looks like the drums themselves are fairly available as well as the rest - some of it surprisingly so.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > Chasaboo
08/29/2016 at 17:47

Oops...fixed. I think I had a bit of dyslexia typing that one

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
08/29/2016 at 17:51

I’d imagine Ford used those on other vehicles as well and sold many more than International. So probably a lot more support available.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 17:54

I think there’s some crossover with the “squarebirds” and with some of the Ford trucks, but the actual production numbers for the ‘58-’60 Lincolns were pretty low and the brakes are huge - not to be used on anything even vaguely light. Production numbers on the K/KB were low per year, but they made them for about a decade...

Where the Ford parts bin helps is with the cylinders, lines, etc. - not necessarily the shoes and drums.

Steve in Manhattan > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 18:37

How great will it be, however, when it stops as well as goes? Handsome truck.

Frank Grimes > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
08/29/2016 at 21:14

time to upgrade to discs.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
08/30/2016 at 00:38

Hmm. Some very interesting history there. I always enjoy learning something new.