Hi there.. I'm the proud owner of a 66 Riviera , and I'm about to replace my front brake Drums , as they are "out of round" Having pulled the Drum off, I realised that both the wheel bolts and 3 "rivets" secure the hub to the Drum itself.. Wheel bolts came out without any major problems, BUT those "stubborn rivets" are giving me a headache.. Do I just drill them out, and If so, do I get new ones, or just secure the drum to the hub using the wheel bolts? I tried looking in the Buick Chassis manual with no luck. Any hints or ideas would be greatly appreciated.. Sturla ( the Smiling Viking)
The metal liner is not replaceable on these drums. Even if you did separate the liner from the aluminum outer, you would not find a replacement. You have to find used complete drums which come up for sale fairly often. You just have to make sure anything you buy have not been cut beyond the specification.
Hi... I've got new drums ( got them from Cars.Inc), so the Drums themselves are no problem.. As I've been reading about "drum-brake" systems on the web, it seesm to be fairly common that the Factory mounted drums (the drum itself) had Rivets securing them to Hub.. My conclusion: Drill them out ,in order to be able to mount the Hub on the new drum.. In other words, The metal Linings isn't the issue ( I've got new ones ,along with new drums).. Anyway, thanks for the reply..
Sorry I misunderstood. That is a question I have not run across. I saw CARS had cast iron replacements but never thought about having to change the riveted hub. You could drill out the old rivets or it may be easier to grind the heads off and punch them out. As far as reinstalling you may want to contact CARS and see what they recommend if no one chimes in that has done this. Do the new drums have holes that would line up with the original rivet holes on the hub? If not then re-riveting may not be necessary. Since the hub is connected to the spindle via the bearing nut, the drum likely won't go anywhere but depending how it is designed to fit over the hub and lug nut holes that could depend if it needs re-riveted to the hub.
Was it CARS or Kanter that was working on reproduction aluminum drums for the big cars? I know in someones catalog I saw that they were in the works. Is that what you bought from CARS? New aluminum drums?
Hi.. I got mine from CARS.. But they're made of CAST IRON instead of ALU.. I haven't gotten a chance to check whether the holes for the rivets match up,but the "new drums" i got from CARS do have 3 holes for rivets etc,etc .. ( along with the standard wheel bolts) Sturla
See if you can find some alluminum drums. Buick had it right with those brakes. Some people will argue they are still better than discs.
When I replaced the front drums on my 65 lesabre, I don't recall the drum being riveted to the hub. Although, the hub had to be pressed out of the old drum & then pressed into the new drum. But both old & new drums were cast iron. Tom:TU:
