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ian Simpson · 07-02-2015, 10:28 PM

So far I have only put cast iron drums on the front axle. What I found was that the drums had a fillet or radius between the vertical and horizontal surfaces that interfered with the outside edges of the shoes, whereas the old pressed drums had an almost 90 degree bend here. I arced the shoes, dealt with worn rollers, tracks, etc. but still had problems with adjustments. The cure was to grind a chamfer on the outside edge of each shoe to clear this radius.

I checked the problem by using chalk, not grease. As an aside, when I was building racing motorcycles back in the 1960s, we never even touched the braking material with bare hands, let alone grease!

07-02-2015, 10:28 PM	#7
ian Simpson Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2014 Posts: 709	Re: Cast Iron Brake Drums So far I have only put cast iron drums on the front axle. What I found was that the drums had a fillet or radius between the vertical and horizontal surfaces that interfered with the outside edges of the shoes, whereas the old pressed drums had an almost 90 degree bend here. I arced the shoes, dealt with worn rollers, tracks, etc. but still had problems with adjustments. The cure was to grind a chamfer on the outside edge of each shoe to clear this radius. I checked the problem by using chalk, not grease. As an aside, when I was building racing motorcycles back in the 1960s, we never even touched the braking material with bare hands, let alone grease!