 After having completely replaced every part on the brakes on my 2N, I now consider myself an expert on the subject of brakes. I do not claim to know all there is, and I'm not keen on the 8N brakes, but I know my 2N. More importantly, I know what NOT to do and thought i'd share some of those points with the rest of yous out there. How to put the shoes on:
If you position, both of the brake backing plates as I have in the picture, you will do both sides the same. If not, the backing plate on the left of the tractor will have the heavier small spring on the top and the right side will have it on the bottom. It is important (for your sanity) that you put the shoes on in a certain order along with the springs. It should be noted in my picture below that there is one LARGE spring missing that goes from one shoe to the other. I will call this the "Big spring". With all the shoes, springs, and retaining clips removed, You would start with the shoe on the right, labeled "Shoe 2". Start by taking the shoe and inserting the small spring with the large diameter over the pin by the adjuster and in the hole of "Shoe 2". Take the end closest to the bottom (in the picture) and hook it on the adjuster finger. Using a lever action, you pull on the other end of the shoe until you can hook it over the end of the cross shaft. NOTE!!! There are slots in the cross shaft for woodruff keys. MAKE SURE these slots are facing inwards or towards the axle. If you don't, you'll never get the pedals to bolt on because the shaft is 180 degress off (ask me how I know!). Now that shoe #2 is on, and the heavier smaller spring is in place, install the two retaining clips and springs so the shoe won't go flying off anywhere. Now here's the important part; take shoe #1 and hook the big spring (not pictured) over both of the shoes. Use the same "lever action" and hook shoe #1 over the cross shaft first and pry on the bottom and hook the end over the adjuster finger at the bottom. Go ahead and install the remaining two retaining springs and clips. Now there's one spring left; the smaller and weaker spring. Hook this into shoe #1 and using a brake tool from the parts house, slide the end over the pin that the other spring is hooked to. Congratulations, you're done! Almost. Did you notice that funny little nut and flattened out rod sticking out of the back of the backing plate? It had a wheel or disc looking thing on the inside? What does that do? The answer is that one of the two smaller springs is heavier (stiffer) than the other which makes it pull harder. When the brakes are out of the drum, this difference in spring tension causes the shoes to be off-center and therefore difficult to get back into the drum. Also, if left this way, one of the shoes will wear faster than the other. Loosen the lock nut and turn the rod (it's actually a cam) until the brake shoes are centered. Now you know what that little thingy does! Make sure you back off the adjuster (unscrewing counter clock-wise) all the way before trying to re-insert the backing plate and shoes into the drum. The F0-4 covers how to adjust the brakes once they are installed on the tractor. It should also be noted that if you are replacing the felt dust seal around the outer edge at this time, tap the backing plate into the drum with a mallet until the felt begins to touch the edge of the drum. Using a flat blade screwdriver, push the felt into the groove as much as you can all the way around. Then tap the backing plate down some more and pack the felt in some more. Repeat until the brakes are all the way in. I hope this will help a lot of you avoid the mistakes I made. I didn't know you had to put the shoes on in a certain order WITH the springs. The brake tool isn't strong enough to stretch either of the two heavier springs. I also didn't pay attention to which way the woodruff keys were supposed to face until after I had both axles and hubs installed with shims and gasket sealer! I really did not enjoy taking them back out and undoing the brakes to flip the cross shaft around.
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