New drums

["Warren R Anderson" <wranderson@xxxx>]

>I bought a couple of 11"x3" rear drums from Kanter last year. The hubs were
>not included. I sent them out to a heavy duty brake shop to remove the hubs
>from my 11"x21/2" drums and install them on the new drums.


Just a couple things that have not been mentioned and from experience should
be mentioned. The tooling necessary AND the expertise needed to properly
transfer new drums to old hubs should not be impossible to find. The studs
will have to be new also in order to provide the OE staked on configuration.
This is where the special tooling comes in. Left hand threaded studs some
have noted can be impossible to find and RH seems OK but will then not be
OE on left (drivers side) wheels. If the center of the new drum pilots
properly on the old hub, staked studs are, IMHO, not entirely necessary. In
any case, each stud is pressed out singularly so as not to distort hub.

I have ALWAYS cut new drums a very minimum (hopefully) amount so that they
will be round and not bell shaped etc. I have turned hundreds of new drums
and have not found one single new drum that was anywhere close to being
acceptable before turning. From watching club posts, I get the impression
that a lot of the brake problems that come up on this list could be solved
with a good drum resurfacing and proper rework of backing plate surfaces
where shoes ride. BTW, some old drums will need to be turned and then ground
to smooth over 'hot spots' and this service may be hard to find. With the
current new drum cost and availability factors, grinding drums for old cars
is feasible.

New hardware, new cylinders, new hoses, round drums and good attention to
all other details and brakes should be smooth and quiet and not dump the car
in the ditch.

Warren Anderson
Sedona,AZ