Ford NH 545D poor brakes.

rrowdy · Jan 31, 2006

I have a Ford 545D industrial with really lousy brakes. I knew this when I bought it figuring I'd get around to repairing them.
I made sure the adjustment was correct but you still have to stand on em just to slow the darn thing down. Service Mgr stated someone probably ran the machine with the parking brake on and wore them out.
I removed the rear end housings thinking I'd replace the worn disks but after inspecting them, they looked like new with no wear to the disks or intermediate plates. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks, Phil

tillerkiller · Jan 31, 2006

Are the wear surfaces glazed over? Like on a car when you rest your foot on the pedal going down the road?

If they are, then I would say to sandpaper the glaze off of them and see what you get.

rrowdy · Jan 31, 2006

That's a good idea, they do seem a little glazed. the disks are steel with sintered bronze applied to them and they look like new. The intermediate plates are the ones that seem glazed. I'll use emery and lightly sand them before re-install. I'm not going to do anything until I research this completely because it's so much work removing the housings.

tillerkiller · Feb 1, 2006

I'm sure you have figured this out but.....

some Ford tractors have power brakes, does the 545 have any such system?

rrowdy · Feb 1, 2006

No power brakes on this model, I've had other tractors similar to this with the same design and never had any problems until now.

d413ai · Sep 16, 2006

You may want to check and be sure you are using the correct fluid specifically made for wet disc brakes. If someone replaced the fluid with a universal type you will not have the friction modifiers required.

rrowdy · Sep 22, 2006

Thanks D14,

The correct fluid was indeed installed. I took the tractor apart and everything looked like new. This tractor is built like a tank and I just could not figure out why they didn't work. I put it all back together and now the brakes work like they should. I think the problem was Two sleeves that were rusted to the brake actuator shafts.

And in my infinite wisdom, took the tractor apart only to find this should have been a minor repair. Oh well..........

gpick · Sep 23, 2016

rrowdy said:
Thanks D14,

The correct fluid was indeed installed. I took the tractor apart and everything looked like new. This tractor is built like a tank and I just could not figure out why they didn't work. I put it all back together and now the brakes work like they should. I think the problem was Two sleeves that were rusted to the brake actuator shafts.

And in my infinite wisdom, took the tractor apart only to find this should have been a minor repair. Oh well..........

I also have a 545D with poor brakes. The actuator is adjusted with the double nuts making the actuator as short as it will go. Are the sleaves you mention covering the actuator shafts? I thought my double nuts were just at the end of their threads but I see that mine may be tightend up against the sleave. What is the purpose of the sleaves?

I just had to remove the wheels and weighs to replace the rear tires so am not eager to take this all apart if I can avoid it.