Stuck Brakes

[desmond197]

Any advise on getting a front brake backing plate off of a 72 Six Day front wheel. Water got in and rusted the shoes to the drum.

[cubfan1968]

Have you tried shooting some penetrating oil around the perimeter of the backing plate and letting it work in?

Rod Whitman
Omaha, Nebraska
1972 Six Day (Rider)
1972 Six Day (Project)

[TGTech]

It has been nearly 30 years since I've worked on a Penton hub, but one thing I do remember very well, was having the brake plate stuck to the hub. And normally, it didn't have anything to do with the shoes rusting to the drum, but the bearing spindle tube, on which the bearings were mounted and through which the axle passed, would rust and stick to the corrosion that would form on the aluminum plate.

If two large screw drivers placed 180 degrees apart around the plate as pry bars, won't loosen the plate, then I would suggest soaking the plate/tube juncture with a penetrating lubricant for a few days. If this still doesn't loosen the plate, then using an oxy/aceteylene torch to heat the hub of the plate, should loosen it from the tube. I remember doing this myself to get the assembly apart.

Dane