Hello, hope you all are doing well in these crazy times. I mentioned in a thread a few days ago I was looking at front drums that interchange for my 1953 Customline, as they share brake shoes with many other Ford models. My RockAuto parcel arrived today, and I was able to try my driver side front hub in the 1968, 10" Mustang front drum I ordered. In the attached photos, the hub is fully seated, perfect fit for the hub center and wheel studs. The original backing plate is also a perfect fit in the new drum. There is a bit of play with the studs in regards to the stud holes being a little larger than needed. Not sure it would be a problem with wheels snugged down on top, but I may try new, 1968 Mustang wheels studs, as RockAuto says they interchange. The next question is drum depth. I'm in the process of drilling off the swages on the p***enger side hub, and plan to test fit the Mustang drum with the original hub and brake ***embly still intact. Will report back when I have tested it out.
Reporting back with good news! They fit! For anybody curious it is possible to remove the drums from the hubs while still on the car (5/8" hole saw is the tool for the job, burnt up one per hub, but that may have been poor quality cutting oil on the first one I did). The photo of the new drum on the existing hub is fully seated, with no interference with the stock backing plate, woohoo! I took some measurements with my calipers while I was out there. The distance from the backing plate rim on each drum to the hub mounting surface is 3.230" on both, identical. From the photo attached you can see that the newer drum has a bigger lip past the backing plate, but no interference with any suspension or steering components. The real place where the drums differ is the thickness of the hub mounting are. On the new drums they are 0.285" thick, the old are only 0.220" thick. I think this is why they aren't listed as interchange, as that's roughly a 1/16" difference. I'm going to go ahead with my brake rebuild, and just order the appropriately longer Mustang studs, same thread as our original studs, should allow the drum to fit more snugly.
Was that the 1634R you ordered? https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=427024&cc=1132322&jsn=592&jsn=592
It appears that the drums are centered on the hub. Is there a reason to want tighter fit around the studs?
Yes, the Raybestos 1634R was the front drum part I ordered, that are in my photos. The hubs are a perfect fit, my concern is more that as the wheels turn the drum will ride on the studs, and when you brake the drum will slowly jostle the studs and potentially cause wear on the studs.
It'll be interesting to see how they balance. If I'm not mistaken, our cars (at least 57's) are lug centric, not hub centric. Your wheels will tell you.........if they have conical seats on the lug holes, they are lug centric. I'd be interested to hear what Nascar Dave thinks.
Right you are, that's why I'm wondering regarding using Mustang lug studs in my '53 hubs. Picture below are the Napa parts listed for the Mustang with cast front drums, and for a 1953 Customline. Mustang, 0.625" Knurl diameter, thread length 1.065". 1953 Customline stud, 0.625" Knurl diameter, 1.595" thread length. Not sure how different they are, my guess is the shoulder could work for either, but when you drill out the swage on the drum you cut into the shoulder, which centres the drum in the first place. Safest bet is probably new wheel studs.
Huge thanks! I pulled the front drums on my '52 around the time this thread went up and they were completely shot. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the price at Mac's. After I saw this, I picked up the 1634R's and went ahead and got the Mustang lug studs as well. I mounted them today and they're a perfect fit! The studs pressed right in and seat well into the drum. I'll keep an eye on them for wear as well but they worked perfectly on the test drive.
Not too much, really. Since I was s****ping the drums and the lugs, I cut the swages off with a carbide tip on a dremel and cut a little deeper than I would have if I was trying to re-use them. I pressed them on a cheapo HF 11 ton press and only 2 of the 10 lugs popped, the rest pressed smoothly out. I used 2 equal height deep well sockets on either side of the lug as a support to keep from warping the hub. The hub itself was a little more difficult though. Luckily the back side fit right between the press apron arms so I just centered the drum between them and used an arbor plate between the ram and the top of the hub to keep the pressure even. Then just slow pumps until it popped free. I did get a little worried because the top of the drum started bowing down before the hub had moved at all but they eventually broke free. Thinking back, I should have supported the drum underneath around the sides of the hub and maybe soaked it in penetrating fluid but they came out without any damage so I got lucky.
I just drilled around the studs with a 5/8" hole saw. Just the standard bi-metal type, nothing fancy. Lots of cutting oil and patience, but only took about 15 minutes to drill all 5 studs on my p***enger side. If you aren't reusing the studs then you just drill a little deeper into the drum, and it slides right off, no press needed. One of my above posts has a picture of the hub still attached to the spindle, with the drum off.
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