Brake Rivet Problem

[Jonathan Goodish]

I am trying to replace the brake linings on my Cherokee. I have had new
linings and brass rivets for some time now, along with a rivet tool.
The problem I'm having is that the rivets aren't forming a decent head,
but are simply being "squashed" more or less. They are spreading
slightly, so the result is a tight fit, but I don't think that they're
spreading enough to form an adequate head.

The holes in the backing plates do not look oversized, and I am using a
brake rivet tool, so I'm not sure of the problem.

Any suggestions?


Thanks,
JKG

[Newps]

Jonathan Goodish wrote:
> I am trying to replace the brake linings on my Cherokee. I have had new
> linings and brass rivets for some time now, along with a rivet tool.
> The problem I'm having is that the rivets aren't forming a decent head,
> but are simply being "squashed" more or less. They are spreading
> slightly, so the result is a tight fit, but I don't think that they're
> spreading enough to form an adequate head.
>
> The holes in the backing plates do not look oversized, and I am using a
> brake rivet tool, so I'm not sure of the problem.
>
> Any suggestions?

Put 'em on and use them.

[Jonathan Goodish]

In article >,
Newps > wrote:
> > The holes in the backing plates do not look oversized, and I am using a
> > brake rivet tool, so I'm not sure of the problem.
> >
> > Any suggestions?
>
> Put 'em on and use them.


Yes, I'm not sure whether they're supposed to be like that or not. The
ones that came off of there had nice large, rounded lip heads, but who
knows when they were put on or by whom, because it was long before I
ever owned the aircraft.

I just don't want to put them on and have them come flying off.



JKG

[Newps]

Jonathan Goodish wrote:
> In article >,
> Newps > wrote:
>
>>>The holes in the backing plates do not look oversized, and I am using a
>>>brake rivet tool, so I'm not sure of the problem.
>>>
>>>Any suggestions?
>>
>>Put 'em on and use them.
>
>
>
> Yes, I'm not sure whether they're supposed to be like that or not. The
> ones that came off of there had nice large, rounded lip heads, but who
> knows when they were put on or by whom, because it was long before I
> ever owned the aircraft.
>
> I just don't want to put them on and have them come flying off.

The heads on the rivets that I installed on my brakes are smashed like
you said yours were. If the brake pads are solid then use them If they
come flying off of there, which is highly unlikely, then put new ones
on. I have had brake lines break on 3 or 4 occasions and shoot all the
fluid out the crack. One operating brake is plenty.

[Jonathan Goodish]

In article >,
Newps > wrote:
> The heads on the rivets that I installed on my brakes are smashed like
> you said yours were. If the brake pads are solid then use them If they
> come flying off of there, which is highly unlikely, then put new ones
> on. I have had brake lines break on 3 or 4 occasions and shoot all the
> fluid out the crack. One operating brake is plenty.

I had a local mechanic finish mine up, and the rivet heads are a little
better but not much--they're pretty much smashed. So that's the way
they're supposed to be, I guess.



JKG

[Jay Masino]

Jonathan Goodish > wrote:
> I had a local mechanic finish mine up, and the rivet heads are a little
> better but not much--they're pretty much smashed. So that's the way
> they're supposed to be, I guess.

The most important things are that the pads are being held tight, and that
you didn't smash the rivets so much that the pads crack.


--
__!__
Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
http://www2.ari.net/jmasino ! ! !
http://www.oceancityairport.com
http://www.oc-adolfos.com

[Ric]

"Jay Masino" > wrote in message
...
> Jonathan Goodish > wrote:
>> I had a local mechanic finish mine up, and the rivet heads are a little
>> better but not much--they're pretty much smashed. So that's the way
>> they're supposed to be, I guess.
>
> The most important things are that the pads are being held tight, and that
> you didn't smash the rivets so much that the pads crack.

When you say smash do you mean hammer? Brake rivets should be squeezed not
hammered.

Ric
>
>
> --
> __!__
> Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
> http://www2.ari.net/jmasino ! ! !
> http://www.oceancityairport.com
> http://www.oc-adolfos.com

[Jonathan Goodish]

In article >,
"Ric" > wrote:

> "Jay Masino" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Jonathan Goodish > wrote:
> >> I had a local mechanic finish mine up, and the rivet heads are a little
> >> better but not much--they're pretty much smashed. So that's the way
> >> they're supposed to be, I guess.
> >
> > The most important things are that the pads are being held tight, and that
> > you didn't smash the rivets so much that the pads crack.
>
> When you say smash do you mean hammer? Brake rivets should be squeezed not
> hammered.


I guess they can be hammered if you're skilled at it, but I think that
he's referring to the head of the rivet, which looks "smashed" by the
brake rivet tool.

In my case, the linings were tight, but the rivets didn't look like the
factory ones, so I wasn't sure whether I was missing something.



JKG

[Don Hammer]

>
>In my case, the linings were tight, but the rivets didn't look like the
>factory ones, so I wasn't sure whether I was missing something.
>
>
>
>JKG

The factory puts them on with a roto-pien (sp?) tool. You won't be
able to duplicate that. The rivets are a shear device and carry very
little load under tension. I always put them on with a light hammer
and only tight enough to secure the pad tightly. You don't want to
crack the pad.

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[Jay Masino]

Ric > wrote:
> When you say smash do you mean hammer? Brake rivets should be squeezed not
> hammered.

Sorry. Probably a poor choice of words.

--- Jay



--
__!__
Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
http://www2.ari.net/jmasino ! ! !
http://www.oceancityairport.com
http://www.oc-adolfos.com

[Jay Masino]

Jonathan Goodish > wrote:
> I guess they can be hammered if you're skilled at it, but I think that
> he's referring to the head of the rivet, which looks "smashed" by the
> brake rivet tool.

I personally have two different types of rivet installing tools. One is
used by striking a "punch-like" tool, while the other is similar to a
C-clamp and squeezes the rivet as you turn the handle. The squeezing tool
is much easier to use and yields far more consistent results.

> In my case, the linings were tight, but the rivets didn't look like the
> factory ones, so I wasn't sure whether I was missing something.

Sounds like your probably OK.




--
__!__
Jay and Teresa Masino ___(_)___
http://www2.ari.net/jmasino ! ! !
http://www.oceancityairport.com
http://www.oc-adolfos.com

[[email protected]]

On Tue, 17 May 2005 10:32:02 -0500, Don Hammer >
wrote:

snip

>The factory puts them on with a roto-pien (sp?) tool. You won't be
>able to duplicate that. The rivets are a shear device and carry very
>little load under tension. I always put them on with a light hammer
>and only tight enough to secure the pad tightly. You don't want to
>crack the pad.

We had one in the shop that used a lead screw on the punch instead of
a hammer. Am thinking it was a Rapco product. It did a fine job of
"spinning" out the shop heads on the rivets.

TC

[[email protected]]

>The factory puts them on with a roto-pien (sp?) >tool. You won't be
>able to duplicate that.

The factory squeezes them just like you can, but the tool needs
to have the right profile on the face and it has to be properly
polished. We have the tools and they work just fine, making rivet
flares just like the originals. The biggest hassles include getting
them tight enough without cracking the pad and avoiding cracking the
rivet flare in more than two places.
In the 1970's I sold truck parts and in the back of the shop we
had brake relining equipment, including a foot-operated riveter. I
relined shoes from a 4" industrial spin-dryer brake to 6" Cushman
scooter brakes to autos and light and heavy truck brakes, and the worst
were the earthmover shoes that weighed about 50 pounds each and had 96
rivets holding four friction blocks. I learned early on to watch those
rivet upset tools, discarding the chipped or worn ones that mashed
rivets instead of rolling them over in a proper flare.
And I must have absorbed a lot of asbestos...

Dan