Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

I had new cast iron drums put on my original hubs recently by a machine shop. I noticed that some of my studs were loose when I was taking off a wheel and it appears that all four drum/hubs were affected with loose studs. It appears that the stud shoulder is not all the way through the drum as I see in other reference pictures.

I have a friend with a press and we tried to see if they'd go in any farther but no luck.

Is it possible that the wrong type of studs were used (ones for original stamped steel drums) or that the stud hole in the drums are not correct?

Re: Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

The studs should have an indexing on it's shoulder that fits in a notch in the drum.

Re: Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

Here's a picture of a front stud - the gap near the face of the drum opens and closes when the stud is moved

Re: Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

I found it takes a pretty powerful press ( I did mine a second time with a 30 ton) to set these lugs. I found out the hard way if the lug stud wasn't crushed enough the stud would wiggle. I originally tried to set the studs with a 12 ton and the studs were loose. I would check the indexing (make sure the notch on the inside is clocked correct ) and then try to set them again..

Re: Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

Right, he has a 100 ton industrial press that he uses on forklift equipment. 27 tons is what we used and the studs are indexed correctly. As a matter of fact the only reason they haven't spun yet is because of the index

Re: Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

were the old studs drilled or had the swedge cut off before they were pressed out?
perhaps they were just pressed out and the holes got enlarged.
When I did mine on a 40 ton press it showed 23 tons to fully set them.

Re: Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

I suggest you send all 4 drums/hubs to Randy Gross to have him redo them. I have never seen or heard a complaint about his workmanship.

Re: Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

This is true and he is a heck of a nice guy.

Re: Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

Re: Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

Did you use the proper seeding tool. The studs should be absolutely tight. I would re swedged them to see if they tighten up.

Re: Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

Spell check! Swedging!

Re: Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

I don't know the way back word origin of swage, swaged, or swaging but AI has it as old French "souage". The French made the Statue of Liberty with the repousse process so there is a relationship between those two words.

Making the original design lug studs longer may have a problematic issue with the swaging process but it also depends on the type of steel and processes it took to form it. Some may be better than others.

Re: Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

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Re: Stud Fitment in Cast Iron Drums
 

Perhaps this finding could be useful.

I've taken screenshots of two different jobs of people swaging studs, and I compared them to mine. Notice how the two reference images have completely flat shoulder areas right up to the threads. If you look at mine it appears that only part of the shoulder was caught and the rest was not pressed, and left a ridge. I have read that there are reproduction tools that are oversized that won't compress the whole shoulder of the stud.

Yes I've talked to Randy Gross before, nice guy. Shipping both ways would total ~$300 which is really not ideal.

I have yet another friend with the proper swaging tool (come to find out today), he just doesn't have the alignment fixture to hold the tool