WD-45 brakes

[jbeeje]

I am working on the brakes on my WD-45, and hoped that I could get by with just replacing the pads, as the drum looks OK from what I've been able to see so far. In the service manual, it says that they can be removed through the access hole at the top. What I'm wondering is, how do you get the pin at the bottom out that is held in by the cap screw and strap? I was thinking of welding a bolt horizontally onto the end of the pin so I'd have something to get a hold of. Am I on the right track here?

 

[Brian G. NY]

There is supposed to be a grove on the end of the pin.
You are "supposed" to be able to use that groove to pry those pins right outta there!
In reality, they are sometimes frozen in there so bad it's nearly impossible to pull them out.
What you propose may work, especially if you heat the housing as well.
In extreme cases, some guys go up thru the bottom hole in the casting, cut off as much of the pin as possible and then drive the pin into the housing. May have to cut again until the pin is short enuf to drive on thru. The inside part of the pin usually will come out without much hassle as it's not so likely to rust.
My brother and I did one on his WD where we drilled and tapped the end of the pin and installed a 3/8" Gr-8 bolt and used a combination of pipe and washers to pull it out.
We did have to heat the housing as well.
The one on the other side pulled right out.
I just did my D-17 last summer and the pins pulled out fairly easy using just a pair of "real" Vice-Grips.
I always clean up the pins and the hole and use "never-sieze" on them. I will probably never have to pull them in my lifetime but maybe somewhere down the road somebody will appreciate it. LOL

 

[LeonardWD45]

Did the left brake on my WD this past summer. Tried the works to get it out, ended up breaking the head of the pin off and drilled a hole in the center. Then a grade 8 3/8 bolt and a 1/2 drive socket and washers to pull it out.

If you use this method you will have to somehow remove the outer portion of the pin, from the lip outwards, before you drill because it is case hardened and real tough on bits.

Leonard

 

[jbeeje]

Thanks, that gives me a few ideas to try. When I posted the 1st message, I hadn't looked at the other side. That side still had the end with the grove on it, and I got that one right out. The side I am having trouble with, someone had twisted off the end a long time ago, so it is flush with the housing. Mine might be a little more rusty than usual because I dropped my tractor through the ice on the river about 20 years ago when I was scraping the snow so we could ice skate. I had checked the thickness and it was about 15 inches, (I live in ND) but I ventured a little too close to the shore where the snow was deeper, hence the ice was thinner because of the insulation factor of the snow. With the help of several neighbors, we got it out the next day and drained everything we could. But I suppose a few places like this tended to rust more than usual.

 

[RalphWD45]

I welded the inside, of a long 11/16" box end to the pin on my WD45, and twisted it back and forth to loosen it. I had previously heated it with a torch, thru the hole in the housing, to loosen it from the brake band, and also the casting, I had several days of soaking it in Kroil, and tapping it with a stiff punch, to vibrate the Kroil into it. I took the rear tire off, to give me hammer room.

 

[JMS/.MN]

Since the pin is flush you could still use my idea- get a quarter inch flat iron about 8 inches long, drill a 3/4 inch hole near one end. Weld that over the pin. Apply candle wax as it cools, and use the steel as a lever to wiggle it out.

 

[Ryan Renko]

I have heard the horror stories about WD brakes for years. When I tore into my first set last year on our family 1950 WD I took the retainer off and pulled both pins right out with my fingers!!! So much for having a tractor in the shed its whole life!! I know thats not always possible and at 60+ years of age isnt a common thing, I was lucky. Ryan

 

[Meangreen]

We just removed the pins out of my WD45 over christmas. We used a set of alignment wedges that were originally used for aligning the steering on Model Ts and such. It"s basically a wedge, but it has a grove down the center. We put a small plate with a slot in the grove on the pin and then slid the wedge in between the plate and transmission housing. Tapped on the end of the wedge and in less than 15 minutes we had both pins out.

We did spend 2 hours the night before with a pnumatic chisel trying to vibrate the pin out, to no avail. My dad remebered my grandfather had the wedges in his tool collection so we gave those a try.