Front brake backing plate

Hey Veefre,

What all are you wanting me to send?

Once I get my Disc Brackets I wont need the backing plates, drums, shoes, or anything else in there, except the hub. You can have it all for the cost of shipping, just let me know what all you want. I’m not going to need any of it, but don’t know what all you want to pay to have shipped. If you want I can strip everything down to the plate, or just box the whole thing. You probably won’t want to use the wheel cylinder, or springs.

It would probably be cheapest to ship by USPS, unless you want it shipped by someone else.

I do need to keep the hub as the M1Dadio / TransAm Disc conversion requires me to use the old hub.

Hi Scott,

Thanks!

What my van needs is just the backing plates, the pivot bolts, and the spacersbetween the pivot bolt and the front of the backing plates for both left and right wheels. I don't need the hubs or drums or shoes. The rest on this car was renewed fairly recently, so the wheel cylinders, springs, shoes, etc all look good (or I can get from stores).

I'll send you a private message with my address and payment info.

Any idea when the brackets will arrive?

Thats a good question,

Has anyone gotten an update from Leadfoot as to when we will get these brackets ordered back in April?

My van has gotten pretty dusty waiting for its brake converstion to be finished..

I'm continuing the discussion of brake backing plates over here... seems most appropriate.

As you may know, I got some backing plates off a van in a local yard here this week. After I cleaned them up and removed the anchor bolts, I noticed that one of the '64 backing plates (passenger side) shows signs of failure similar to what has happened to my van's original backing plates: stress crack developing above the anchor pivot bolt; spacer pulled away from the spot weld to the left of the anchor pivot bolt.

I'm thinking this backing plate is a poor design, not intended to last more than ten or twenty years.

I"m going to try to spot weld the spacer back into position and install the backing plate so I can drive the van short, slow distances until I can get a sound plate and/or convert over to disc brakes.

My advice: If your early Chevy van has front drum brakes, inspect the backing plates carefully around the anchor pivot bolt. If it shows any signs of cracking or the spacer plate pulling away from the backing plate, repair/replace/ugrade.

Update: I bead blasted the plate with the problem, and then used my spot welder to re-fasten the spacer back to the backing plate. It took several tries as the spacer is pretty thick and my spot welder is just a 220 single phase job. The first couple of times the plates sprung apart as soon as I removed the C-clamp. Then when I though I had it, I was able to pry them apart with a screwdriver. Finally I got everything real hot and it doesn't seem to be coming apart with nudging. Probably I should take the plate to a welder and have him lay a mig or tig bead around the upper edge of the spacer.

At this point, after bead blasting the plate, it doesn't look like the stress crack is through the backing plate. It might just be some surface cracking from the stamping process on one side (back side) and some metal ridging from the stamping process on the other side (front side). But the fact that one of the spot welds gave out and the spacer was lifting away from the backing plate was cause for concern. What I've seen on my original plates is that this lifting forces the brake shoes outward, as well as weakening the backing plate.

Anyway, off to find new lock washers... the anchor bolt is a biggie - 5/8" I think....

Before...,





After red powder coating....,

That looks great..

So whats it take to do the powder coating?

I got the powder coating kit and paint from Harbor Freight. And I have a spare electric range (neighbor was tossing it) that I fixed up and put in the workshop. The powder cures at 400F, which is within the capabilty of the range.

You attach a 10 to 30 psi compressed air hose to the gun, then attach a ground clamp to the part, and then spritz the part with the powder. It seems to work best in bursts. A fair amount gets airborne but drops quickly to the floor (or top of your shoes). It sticks pretty well, long enough to get the part into the oven for about 25 minutes. It's not difficult but of course you're dealing with high voltage, and high temps, so a little common sense is required. Surprisingly I was able to do it ;-)

Niceeee!
B.W.

Does anybody know why the 1st(R pic) BP has a extra piece metal on the bottom of it, or is the other one just gone??? Better go look at mine

The extra piece of metal is a "dust guard" which I imagine is supposed to help keep road dust out of the drum. It's on the back of both backing plates, just harder to see from the front.

Apparently some GM drum brake backing plates have the dust guard, others don't. Some have bigger ones that that pictured, called the "extended dust guard".

I would rather if GM had spent the money and material on beefing up the backing plate around the anchor bolt attachment at the top ;-).

My brake brackets showed yesterday, can't wait to get them put on..

I’ll try to pry myself away long enough to get your backing plates ready to go.

Here’s a picture of what I’m shipping tomorrow,

Guess you can call this a teaser..

Thanks, Scott!

The backing plates look quite clean, thanks.

The crack is on both the front and back. It's actually easier to see on the front, just above the center of the guide plate. It's on what is probably the weakest area of the backing plate, because it's the deepest draw during the stamping process. So the material would tend to be thinnest and/or most stressed in that area. At least that's what I've seen and figured.

Scott, did you get my pm? UPS @ $15 is fine with me.

PS-wire brush is a good idea. I cleaned mine with engine cleaner, and then soaked them in Biosolve, then hand wire brushed. But it still took a long time to bead blast the tar and rust off the junked ones. Even then I couldn't get all the rust out of the pits. My compressor can't keep up with the bead blasting so that made things take a bit longer as well. I wound up powder coating and curing one while I bead blasted the other.

Scott,

Got the backing plates Friday. Thanks a lot!

They look identical to the '64 plates, except of course they're in much better shape. I'll be bead blasting and powder coating them today. Then, weather permitting, installing them on the van today or tomorrow (there isn't enough room in the carport to jack up the van and work on the front end... the roof would hit the carport beams, I think...)