The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

Hi all, I’ve just replaced brake disc and actuators on my super, but when I put end plates on there’s no clearance and you can’t turn axles, adjuster screw is right in. Has anyone else had this problem (agriline parts) I’m thinking of shimming end plate with some shim steel it’s not much that I need

Hi,
I've used there discs without the actuators. I did just put new springs on them. Can you see a difference in dimensions between old and new actuators? Shimming isnt the best idea.

I think the adjusting screw on the bottom stop needs to be screwed OUT for an initial set up after new components.

For each brake:

Take off the brake pedal return spring and slacken off the brake pull rod a few turns.

Undo the locknut on the adjusting screw on the bottom stop and back the adjusting screw right off i.e. unscrew it out.

Check that you can then fit the end plate. If everything is OK with the end plate fitted and the brake is free and the wheel free to turn depress the brake pedal a few times to centralise the parts.

Screw the adjusting screw in slowly until the brake is fully locked, then slacken off the screw by one and a half turns and tighten the locknut.

Tighten up the brake pull rod adjusting nut until the pedal just contacts the upper pedal stop, then slacken off the adjusting nut by one and a half turns. This should give a pedal travel of about one and a half inches at the pedal. Refit the pedal return spring.

You will need to re-adjust after the brakes have bedded in.

I’ve got it all slack, but the actuator is slightly thicker than original but my old one is beyond repair so I think I will have to make a steel gasket for end plate it wouldn’t need to be very thick il have to measure but I would think 1mm would be enough

OK, your original posting said the adjusting screw was right in, but if it is slackened right off and out then the issue must be on the new components, either the actuators or discs or both.

You could shim as you say but a more engineered solution would be to mill the faces of the actuators sufficiently to allow the brake to be assembled.

Another possible solution would be to check the clearance between the two plates of the actuator when it is unexpanded. If there is some clearance then there is the possibility of using alternative slightly smaller balls, possibly British/American sizes as opposed to metric or vice versa, to allow the overall thickness of the actuator package to slightly reduce. If you think that 1mm reduction is needed then balls with a 1mm smaller diameter would do the trick provided there is some clearance between the two plates of the actuator to allow this. I would also check the inner faces of the plates for rough casting outcrops that prevent the springs from drawing the actuator plates tight onto the balls. There is also the possibility of milling the inner faces of the actuator plates if there is no clearance on an unexpanded actuator, to then allow the use of slightly smaller balls to reduce the overall width of the actuator package. That would be a good engineered solution.

There must be an answer somewhere in the above!

I haven’t got the facilities to mill or lathe so I was trying to do something that I could sort myself the disc seem almost identical size to the old ones I took out but the actuator is slightly thicker so I guess if I measured the difference then that would be the size of my shim, I’m not sure if it’s worth contacting agriline as every repo part I buy is usually of poor fit

Indeed, the nut should be slackened.
Are you sure you have the right actuators?
These are my used ones, after cleaning them:


All mounted, as you can see, there's still some room left on the spline shaft. Nevermind the adjusting bolt, it's not where it should be

I have splines showing but when I put a straight edge across disc to brake housing The disc are just further out

Hi woodcutter, I had the same problem twice in the last few years. The first time I had it, I left it alone and it heated up the brake assembly red hot (would melt your shoe) for weeks on end until the pad wore down. Has been fine ever since, but I didn't like the solution. The second (more recent) time this occurred on another super I own, I added small washers to each of the bolts, this spaced a small gap between the outside plate. Works fine. After a few months of work, open it up and remove the washers. This is what I would recommend doing.

Yeah it’s not much I’ve made a gasket to take up difference fingers crossed it should be ok it’s not gonna see a lot of work