Rear brake back plate - lugs falling off

[aec]

Front brakes freed up, now onto the rears.  I thought these were good but on further inspection the cylinder on one side had leaked soaking the shoes while the other is oozing behind the dust caps.  So new cylinders and shoes have arrived.  Took the old shoes off last night.  The backing plates don't look too bad generally, but the lug that secures the springs on one of them looks a bit suspect, like the tack welds are about to give up.  And the loops tacked on below the hubs fell off on both sides.

What exactly does that lower loop do?  Does it just locate the position of the lower spring?

Anyone had any luck repairing the back plates in-situ?  Just trying to avoid the expense of new plates but more the aggro of getting the hub nuts undone (given I might not have anything stout enough to get them off in my current tool kit)

 

[RogerT]

Back plates tend to rust where they lay flat against the hub. They can be welded to patch them.

As for getting the hub nuts off, ->

https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/hardware/t ... -46mm.html

Getting them back on is where the money gets spent, as it requires a 46 mm socket, preferably 3/4” drive with a breaker bar or slider bar, and calculate the torque with your body weight x distance along the breaker/slider bar. Of course this can also be used to get the hub nut off but as it’s often seized tight and you end up using a substantial extension (6ft scaffold pole is my favourite).

As time goes on, these vans get spendy, but if you keep the van the tools are a good investment.

[SurfT25]

I recently did my back brakes.
Socket, breaker bar and scaffolding pole.
I picked up, after I had done my brakes, to mark the nut position before you release them.
That way you will know roughly where to stop tightening.
Good luck.

[aec]

I've somehow got through 14 years of T25 maintenance without needing to do this!

I'm also wondering whether this is a good excuse to buy one of those £40 torque multipliers on eBay, might not be the simplest/cheapest or even most appropriate tool for the job, but they look pretty cool! 



 

[davidoft1]

You can weld tabs on to hold the springs