Wet brakes

blossomoto · Jun 29, 2019

Question for the hive mind.
My Hinomoto E152 has wet brakes that don't work very well at all. The shoes have plenty of material on them and they're adjusted not great but okay. Any suggestions on how to recondition or resurface the drums or shoes? Thanks for any advice!

K5lwq · Jun 29, 2019

I put some Lucus hydraulic oil booster in my tractor as a temporary fix for a leaky seal. Immediately my wet brakes showed a drastic improvement. I had thought they were all but gone and decided not to worry about it as I rarely use them. The bottle says it removes varnish.

I bought it at my local TSC.

Still have the leak but new seals should arrive today. Lol

k0ua · Jun 29, 2019

blossomoto said:
Question for the hive mind.
My Hinomoto E152 has wet brakes that don't work very well at all. The shoes have plenty of material on them and they're adjusted not great but okay. Any suggestions on how to recondition or resurface the drums or shoes? Thanks for any advice!

My question is did you use a hydraulic fluid replacement that was correct for this tractor and formulated for use with wet brakes.

blossomoto · Jun 30, 2019

KOua not really sure. No manual and all labels are Japanese. When I got the machine I used Universal Tractor Fluid to top off, and added some Lucasoil stop leak something or other to try to fix a leaky axle seal (didn't work). But the brakes didn't work before that and were no better or worse afterward. This machine is around 1980 vintage if that helps.

3930dave · Jun 30, 2019

If not serviced already, I'd try changing out all the TDH fluid and filter. Ancient fluid will be degraded, and the sump can hold a fair amount of settled water, that won't be obvious till you drain. I'd change the seal, and try new fluid.

Keep the pails, in case you have to to tear it all down anyway.

Rgds, D.

blossomoto · Jun 30, 2019

I was planning to do that when I changed the seal, but the hub is frozen on the axle, so that was no go. Made do with RTV, which helped a lot. But as you say, I may need to go ahead and just put all new fluid in.

blossomoto · Jun 30, 2019

K5lwq said:
I put some Lucus hydraulic oil booster in my tractor as a temporary fix for a leaky seal. Immediately my wet brakes showed a drastic improvement. I had thought they were all but gone and decided not to worry about it as I rarely use them. The bottle says it removes varnish.

I bought it at my local TSC.

Still have the leak but new seals should arrive today. Lol

Yeah I did the same thing. But when I got to the seal the outside part was worn away. Couldn't get the hub off to change it so I packed it with RTV and closed her back up. Slowed it from a steady trickle to just a few drops after use.

3930dave · Jun 30, 2019

blossomoto said:
Yeah I did the same thing. But when I got to the seal the outside part was worn away. Couldn't get the hub off to change it so I packed it with RTV and closed her back up. Slowed it from a steady trickle to just a few drops after use.

Leaks are irritating, but mostly a problem only when totally ignored...... at that level, a reasonable Field Fix :thumbsup:.

I've seen weird hydraulic problems that turned out to be nothing more than fluid that was waaaaayyyyyy Past Due...... one of 2 fluids that often gets skipped over, the other being coolant.

Rgds, D.

blossomoto · May 19, 2020

Hey all you fellow tractor-heads! Still having issues with the frozen hubs and leaky seals. Can't replace the seals without removing the hubs. I've tried a hub puller WITH a slide hammer, as well as hitting it from behind, but no budge. Is it worth renting a torch with a rosebud nozzle and heating it up? Don't want to warp or slag it because I don't know if I can get another one! Another option, I think, is just pulling the axle. It looks like there's just a big spring clip holding everything in. But I don't want to hear "ping, clink, clunk" when I pull it, then have to pull the whole transaxle to put it all back together! Thanks for any advice!

Texasmark · May 21, 2020

Wet brakes require the Premium fluid which contains an "anti-chatter" additive. When does this matter? Best I can glean from farm sites, is when you have a heavy load and you are coming down a hill and your stuck in whatever gear you are in and the momentum of the equipment exceeds the engine RPMs in that gear and you are trying to slow with your (wet) brakes. They decide to chatter and it's a pulsating bumpy ride.

Other thing on any brakes is that sitting up they develop an undesirable surface such that periodic cleaning is required: Get up some speed on a back road and push the respective brake pedal down enough to get a noticeable reaction out of the tractor and release, etc., etc., till they quit making noise. My dry drums develop rust and squeal as you clean them off. The wet brakes on the Bransons are fine but the Ford 3910 sat up for a long time and they made a grinding noise till I got the varnish or whatever off........no I didn't need new pads as the machine was like new....900 mowing hours.