The Ford Barn

tennsmith · 09-17-2017, 02:50 PM

I've just purchased a set of cast iron drums for my A. They came from Bratton's. Got the old hubs put into the new drums, studs swedged, drums trued to the hub, and began reassembly. All went well until I tried to mount the rear wheels. They absolutely will NOT go over the emergency brake diameter area of the drum!! The drum measures roughly 10.145" in the emergency brake area and this is about the same as the inner diameter of my wheel, BUT the wheel tapers and gets smaller from back to front and so it will not go but maybe 1/16" of an inch onto the drum before the wheel diameter becomes too small to allow further movement. I can't even get a lug nut engaged at this point. I've tried 2 of my wheels, both do the same thing. As far as I know, the wheels are the ones that came on the car...it's a 30 coupe. Anyone else had this problem? Does Bratton's have a problem with their vendor? Do I have some oddball wheels? H E L P !! Would it be possible to turn down the drums in that area? Would there be enough metal left for a decent emergency brake. Am I the ONLY person to have this problem?

09-17-2017, 02:50 PM	#1
tennsmith Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 53	Rear Cast Iron Brake drums too big for Wheel I've just purchased a set of cast iron drums for my A. They came from Bratton's. Got the old hubs put into the new drums, studs swedged, drums trued to the hub, and began reassembly. All went well until I tried to mount the rear wheels. They absolutely will NOT go over the emergency brake diameter area of the drum!! The drum measures roughly 10.145" in the emergency brake area and this is about the same as the inner diameter of my wheel, BUT the wheel tapers and gets smaller from back to front and so it will not go but maybe 1/16" of an inch onto the drum before the wheel diameter becomes too small to allow further movement. I can't even get a lug nut engaged at this point. I've tried 2 of my wheels, both do the same thing. As far as I know, the wheels are the ones that came on the car...it's a 30 coupe. Anyone else had this problem? Does Bratton's have a problem with their vendor? Do I have some oddball wheels? H E L P !! Would it be possible to turn down the drums in that area? Would there be enough metal left for a decent emergency brake. Am I the ONLY person to have this problem?