How free should the rear brake cross shaft on a 1928 Chevrolet sedan be?
I have it freed up enough with PB Blaster and it can be rotated back and forth with pliers on the arm that attaches to the equalizer mechanism, it still isn't completely free and there is no lateral movement at all. I can see around the shaft enough to tell that the bushings all appears to be in one piece.
I have had some binding of the crossshaft that is connected to the rear service brakes ever since I bought the 28. I used a pipe wrench to get the shaft to move two times and the brakes seemed to be ol for a couple of tours, but when the car sits for a couple of months the shaft seizes. I have the car on the lift and have all the rods and the shaft should be free. The shaft isn't frozen in place since I cleaned it at the two outside, insides of the outer bushigs and the small center bushing.
I need to decide if there is a need to have the shafts freed up enough to move by hand or if it is supposed to have some resistance to keep from rattleing. If they should be free enough to rotate the disconnected shaft by hand , then I need to pull the shaft and drill out the rivits, replace the bushings with some brass bushings Arvid made for me, which I can split in half to keep from cutting the outer arms off (I have thought about drilling the outer bushing housing and tapping it for a grease Zerk so that the bushing can be greased or is that a bad idea?)

All the pins and clevis and rod ends are tight and the pins had to be driven out. They all appeared to have been painted black, probably before they were assembled, the only worn pins I can find are the ones that attach the rear rods to the brake arms.

I would not be happy unless I could turn the shaft by hand. I opened up the holders (?) and worked on the balls till I had them free. The shells (?) were reinstalled with bolts and spacers between the two 1/2's for the correct clearance. After adjusting all the brakes I can pretty much slide the wheels.

This action was taken on my 1928 Touring.

Ray, that sounds like what I will do, since the shaft is disconnected from all the rods and linkage I might as well go all the way, grind off the rivits and take a good look.
I do have those nice brass bushings Arvid sent me , maybe I can cut them into halves and install them without cutting the outer arms off the shaft. I have thought that if I cut the shaft I would do it a few inches inboard of the right and left side brackets and then weld it back or use a couple of sleeves or pinned couplings over the shaft without having to put the shaft into a lathe.

Hello Mr Mark, and Happy New Year over there.

If I was you, I will take a angle grinder and grind of the outer arms, weld the worn shaft, turn them in a lathe, install the one piece bushings (don't cut them in halves) put the outer arms back an weld them outside.It works great on my "new" -28 project.Easy to move by hand, no locking , and NO RATTLE .



Best regards

Arvid

http://www.chevroletnorge.com