out of round drums

[andrewMcF]

My 62 109" brake drums seem to be out of round, you can tell when applying the brakes you can feel the brakes throb... also when manually adjusting the brakes you can feel tight spots and then lose as your spin the drum. My question is can a machine shop turn them bring them back into round or is turning drums specifically for resurfacing only?

Andrew

[Greg S]

ANY brake shop will turn your drums for you. There is a catch though. The wheels are hubcentric, meaning they centre on the round hub in the centre, not centring on the five wheel studs. I expect the same is true with the brake drum, especially after having several turned on a brake drum lathe and finding them out of round, or at least off centre afterward. The brake drum lathe uses the five stud holes to centre the drum. There is a rather easy fix that is used for a lot of US made pickup trucks. You simply remove the entire hub, brake drum attached, and the brake shop will turn the drums while they are bolted to the hub (you need to take your wheel nuts with you). They turn it centred with your wheel bearings. A little messy with all the grease or oil but you are assured of a centred drum when it is all done.

[DaveB]

Generally they pull the bearings and centre it on the races. And you definitely need to clean and repack the bearings afterwards cuz you've introduced steel filings/shavings into the grease of your hubs.

Look for a shop with an older brake machine as the older ones came with a set of cones to centre on the hub or hole in the drum and not on the wheel nuts.

Also worth mentioning is a minimum size. It may not be easy to see on the rusty drum, but there should be a size cast in somewhere on the outside of the drum. Something like 11.002 or such.

cheers, Dave

[red90]

When this happened on my 90, I actually found it was the shoes. Replacing the drums with new ones did not solve the pulsing pedal, but replacing the shoes with quality ones did.

[andrewMcF]

I have replaced the shoes as they got covered in axle oil from a leak between the stub axle and the swivel pin housing... and still pulsing... thanks for the suggestion though... and still leaking!!! grrr.

I do have the hub off but I just put in a new seal and I don't want wreck it. :( hmmm... ugh...

Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it.

Andrew