Brake Shoe Issues

[GL-AZ]

I hope I'm not going to sound too stupid here, but I've had plenty of experience with hydraulic drum brakes on cars, but this is my first with purely mechanical brakes on a tractor. I have a mid 1980's YM2610D that I acquired last year. The existing brakes would barely slow the tractor and wouldn't lock as parking brakes either. Adjusted them as much as I could, but no improvement. So I pulled the shoes (which I thought still had some wear). I priced replacements on line for about $40 each. However I had a brake place in town that had re-lined shoes for me for years on some collector cars of mine, usually costing about $45 a set with excellent material to withstand our high AZ heat. Well they were bought out since my last visit, but said they could still do the re-line. My first mistake was not asking the charge (boy did they screw me), but that was my own fault. The problem is that the material they used was not what I had gotten in the past and could not get a straight answer of the difference. So I put it all back together and it still barely stops even with the adjustment as tight as possible. Yes, I did give them the ID of the drums.
Again I know these are mechanical and not hydraulic, but how well should they stop. Should I just write this off and buy the shoes on-line?

 

[winston-HT]

I am not a brake guru, however, always full of opinion. My thinking is regardless of the material they used the brakes should stop you if properly installed and adjusted. Are you confident your shoes are tightening against the drum? Confident your brake cam is not froze up and not pushing the shoes against the drum?

 

[bmaverick]

I hope I'm not going to sound too stupid here, but I've had plenty of experience with hydraulic drum brakes on cars, but this is my first with purely mechanical brakes on a tractor. I have a mid 1980's YM2610D that I acquired last year. The existing brakes would barely slow the tractor and wouldn't lock as parking brakes either. Adjusted them as much as I could, but no improvement. So I pulled the shoes (which I thought still had some wear). I priced replacements on line for about $40 each. However I had a brake place in town that had re-lined shoes for me for years on some collector cars of mine, usually costing about $45 a set with excellent material to withstand our high AZ heat. Well they were bought out since my last visit, but said they could still do the re-line. My first mistake was not asking the charge (boy did they screw me), but that was my own fault. The problem is that the material they used was not what I had gotten in the past and could not get a straight answer of the difference. So I put it all back together and it still barely stops even with the adjustment as tight as possible. Yes, I did give them the ID of the drums.
Again I know these are mechanical and not hydraulic, but how well should they stop. Should I just write this off and buy the shoes on-line?

I have a YM2610 2WD. In low gears with the brake locked for both pedals pressed down, it will stop and hold the machine. In PowerShift 3 or 4, no dice. The engine is too strong.

 

[Dan in North Houston]

I hope I'm not going to sound too stupid here, but I've had plenty of experience with hydraulic drum brakes on cars, but this is my first with purely mechanical brakes on a tractor. I have a mid 1980's YM2610D that I acquired last year. The existing brakes would barely slow the tractor and wouldn't lock as parking brakes either. Adjusted them as much as I could, but no improvement. So I pulled the shoes (which I thought still had some wear). I priced replacements on line for about $40 each. However I had a brake place in town that had re-lined shoes for me for years on some collector cars of mine, usually costing about $45 a set with excellent material to withstand our high AZ heat. Well they were bought out since my last visit, but said they could still do the re-line. My first mistake was not asking the charge (boy did they screw me), but that was my own fault. The problem is that the material they used was not what I had gotten in the past and could not get a straight answer of the difference. So I put it all back together and it still barely stops even with the adjustment as tight as possible. Yes, I did give them the ID of the drums.
Again I know these are mechanical and not hydraulic, but how well should they stop. Should I just write this off and buy the shoes on-line?

I have a JD 850, which is probably very similar. When I got it, the brakes didn't work very well. I cleaned, adjusted, and installed new brake shoes, and they have worked very well ever since.

 

[winston-HT]

Making myself clear, I did not think the brakes would stop the tractor when pulling, only with clutch disengaged or out of gear.