Rivetting Brake Linings

There are special jigs and things to hold the lining tight and special drills for the holes in the linings, the rivets are pressed rather than hammered, this means the lining is held with a uniform force, if the rivet is too tight the lining breaks up, amongst other things that escape me at present. There used to be lots of places that would put linings on for you, if you can find one of those I would recommend it just for peace of mind. I would expect that nowadays they would glue the lining on anyway, rather than rivet. somewhere like this would do them for you:

I've only ever done this a couple of times, on an S1 Bentley, where the cost of shoes - can't remember if new or exchange - way exceeded the cost of linings. The linings came pre-drilled, and I riveted them in exactly the way Paul described. With no problems - despite it being quite possible to get smoke pouring out of the brakes with enthusiastic use on such a heavy car.

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember snipped-for-privacy@zetnet.co.uk (Paul) saying something like:

You used to be able to get a little riveting drift with formed the ends of the rivets over nicely. Just flattening them with a bp hammer might work, but the results are uncertain.

Remember to start with the ball peen of the hammer. You need to bulge the bottom out to hold it tight, not just mushroom it over from the top. Once it's tight, you can switch to the face of the hammer and form the head.

I've found you get a better result by flaring the end of the rivet first with a centre punch, before using a hammer. And try to hit the rivet off centre with the ball end of the hammer. The next best thing to using the proper flaring tool for the type of copper rivet used for brake linings . Mike.

Don't forget to use copper rivets. Have seen steel ones used and make a lovely mess of the drums/brake wheels.

Why not get them bonded on? I get a nice little man up the road from me to do it now saves time and effort and they stay there. Also means I get more wear from them. The old way even with copper rivets used to score the brake wheels when the linings got too low.

Andy

The rivets are/should be hollow in which I have always used a star punch to open them up and make tight.

And another thing chamfer the leading edge after fitting so they don't grab when you apply the brakes.

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Rob saying something like:

Aye; and I've found that chamfering the edges cuts down (or eliminates) squeal and judder.

Thanks very, very much for all the replies.

I should have mentioned that the linings came pre-drilled, with copper or brass rivets. Not sure if they're hollow, but if so, spreading them with a punch sounds like a good idea.

Regards,

Paul.