Thread: Front drum brake help

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I got 1 of my new front brake drums from Rock Auto today. I see that it had no center hub, where the bearings are, wheel studs... it will fit the car, it has to be the right 1 but I have to swap the hub to the new drum, how do I do that? do I need to have it pressed out?

All of these years I thought they were cast one piece, learn something new everyday. I guess I just didn't looked that close just had them turned, packed the bearings, and put them back on with new shoes. I would have thought they sent the ones for the back. Good luck to you.

Richard

Matt, I went back through one of my old motor auto repair manual's, it goes from 40 to 54 and not one picture of the front drums they show the spindle, shoes and they even had a disc brake system back then. Someone one will be able to help you sorry I couldn't find anything out for you. I will look through some other old books to see if it tells anything.

Richard

I forgot to mention, the car these drums are for is a '65 Rambler American.. when I first opened the box, I thought they were for the rear.. then when I flipped the old 1 over, I noticed the hub was a second peice. I think it's pressed in from the backside

I have the '53 edition Motors manual ( covers '37-'53 ) .. bought it at an antique shop that I went thru with my mom. it's in mint condition, altho it did cost me $50, it covers my '51 Chevy and then some.

ha matt take a flat punch knock the weel studs out and you should be able to tap the drum off put the new drum on the hub put some washers on each srud and put lug nuts on backwards tighten lug nuts evenley as tight as you can turn it over and hit each stud as hard as you can with hammer and punch hope that helps you out ted

I went through all of my old books,and all they were showing were the backing plates. Looks like you found your answer, I knew someone would know.

Richard

Originally Posted by ford2custom

I went through all of my old books,and all they were showing were the backing plates. Looks like you found your answer, I knew someone would know.

Richard

I tried doing that and it didn't work.. after 40 years I think it's stuck pretty good. I'm going to run it up to Napa tomorrow and have them press it out..

Not even my Factory Tecnical Service manual has any information about this ither... this car is a bit diffrent than any other I'v worked on.. only thing I was familliar with on the brakes is the backing plate/ shoe assembly.. there Ford Bendix brakes.

Seems like what I just did was easier then what you’re dealing with. I cut 3- 80 to 100 feet tall pine trees plus some little guys 30 to 40 feet tall with a 14" chain saw. Give me a minute when I not falling over or in pain to where I can't walk and I will move some trees. My wife is at work she would kill me if the trees didn't. I've never been afraid of hard work it has just about done me in though. I’m from the old generation if something won’t move push harder. Right now I can hardly move and I have that hot rod chain saw smell on me, the cat won’t even get close to me. If I could tackle one of the projects like that maybe I could see some progress. Tomorrow will be a different story, I'll be on the couch with the cat if he moves over.

Richard

How big around were the tall 1's? seems that half the battle was probably using the little 14" chain saw... Maby you should find a keychain turbocharger and rig it up to your chainsaw lol... My grandfather has an old Homelite Super XL 16" chainsaw and he's had it for probably 30 years.. it quit on him 1 time and I took the recoil cover off it and noticed the wire that goes to the switch was corroded so I cleaned it off and stuck it back togther, that was a few years ago.. still runs fine now.

I shouldn't be a press fit.....but it may be rusted on there pretty good. My Chevys and Pontiacs, I can pull the drum off of the hub with ease........

Sometimes there were little clips over the studs holding the drums to the hub....and, I just thought of it. I have seen where there were a couple of rivets holding the drum to the hub.

It's deffinetly on there pretty good.. no kind of fastener is holding it.

Pretty big, to big for a 14" saw. The last one I cut the saw wouldn't get close to the other side so I had to go back and make the last risky cut. I didn't get a shot of the tops, I was using the camera phone. The double tree was the risky one.

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Richard

With some information I just found out, and thinking... I should be able to add disc brakes very easilly... the backing plates are Ford Bendix.. so I should be able to get Scarebird caliper brackets for a Ford Mustang/ Falcon, bolt them on the Rambler spindals.. then I can use the factory drum hubs as backing hubs for the rotors.. I just need to find a rotor that would fit.

I'v got the 2 new drums tho.. so Discs will come at a later time