John, MY Riv. would vibrate after 3-4 races doing cornering & having to rely heavily on the brakes in cornering in a 4300pd. car. Turns out the springs were losing their tension & would cause "Hot Spots" in the cast iron liners of the aluminum drums. Replaced the front pull back hardware & hold down springs & many times solved the problem when H/DUTY pull back & hold down springs were available, which ARE NOT available for yrs. any longer. AND, most likely new hardware is most likely made in China. When you get NEW rear shoes make sure the REAR SHOES are RIVETED & NOT BONDED. And the same for front shoes. The glue that holds the lining to the shoe acts like a heat sink not dissipating the heat generated from braking fast enough. AND the bonded linings will normally squeak when damp or when cold. I know that Bendix shoes can be purchased NEW. NEW RIVETED lining has much "more meat" on them in comparison to the bonded linings. Just have to look around. Mobile parts may even have new also. Will be a little more costly, but as far as I'm concerned well worth the extra $$$$$. I have semi-metallic front & rear shoes that I bought MANY yrs. ago. I didn't use them because they required heat to work properly since I stopped racing that involved cornering I didn't use them. The cracking is usually caused by excessive heat. This may be due to holding the brake pedal while doing a burnout. Would ALSO recommend ALL the brake hardware, as since the shoes are cracked, there's been excessive heat buildup in the braking system caused from doing burn outs. That's one of the reason for installing a line lock. ALSO it appears the pic of the rear drum the brake shoe is making contact on the outer part of the drum (inside edge) with the drum & the outer portion the drum is making contact with the dust/stone/water shield. Is the pic of the same R/R drum??? This could also be from doing a burn out. Take the drums to any brake place & have them check the diameter with a drum Gage to see if they CAN be turned with "ENOUGH" meat on them to be turned. MAX Diameter would be 12.090". DON'T let ANYBODY tell you that 12.060" is MAX diameter as it is NOT. Early Buick's (50's) had SO much "meat" on them could be cut 1/4". At that time you could buy 1/4" oversize shoes. NO oversize linings exist today unless you go to a specialty shop that can reline your existing shoes. Now I believe that your front drums are 90 fin, whereas older are 45 fin. I may have good used 90 fin, but have plenty of 45 fin. Us round y/round guys used up these aluminum drums because the "unsprung" weight was much lighter than steel or cast drums & in some cases they even worker better than discs at the time. Buick's were known for their brakes. There was once long ago that a warehouse FULL of the aluminum 45 fin drums were found. Since then there have been NO OTHER such dis-coverings have been found. I know I sold MANY sets at a price that NO WAY lower than want you may found today. Good used are going for as much as $145.00 to $250.00 ea. today. Depending on how badly your original front drums are "Warped" they can SOMETIMES be straightened out by putting stock steel wheel on & tighten them in 3 steps in a star pattern starting a 50 pds. then 75pds. then 100pds. last. Then taking them off again rotating the wheel & doing again. This has worked for me a few times in the past. What have you got to lose other than your time. This ONLY applies to the front aluminum drums. Tom T.
JohnRiv67, I have the Front & Rear Brake Shoes for you, (Yes, the picture of those rear shoes --MUST replace), I have the Front & Rear Brake Hardware for you, And I have the Front & Rear BRAKE DRUMS for you!!!!! Will PM you presently...
So I took it out for a much needed test drive. The brake "wiggle" as I will now describe it does not occur with the parking brake at 60 mph, so that almost certainly narrows it to the front wheels. I was able to test the AFR that Jason provided to me and came up with some interesting findings. With: 72 jets 41 rods F hanger AX rods I was lean at cruise and very lean at idle, even accounting for the standard error of the gauge when measuring idle speeds. I was rich 10.3-11.5 at WOT, and began to lean out above 4000 rpm Switch on the side of the road to: 72 jets 41 rods V hanger DA rods At least I was leaner at WOT, 12.3-13.5, but started to approach 14:1 at 4000 rpm WOT So my last change as of recently, without testing 74 jets 41 rods K hanger AX rods I will try the method Tom suggested to fix the front drums. I will, at a later date, replace all pads
Mobile123, Those shoes you have are they riveted??? Are they NOS or older replacement USA made???ALSO the hardware kits are they USA made & older parts??? Just trying to help John along the correct path.
OK....nobody is talking about the raised spots that are stamped into the backing plates that are for the side of the brake pad to ride on. If they are wore...and often they are grooved........ or the spots are not smooth and flat....they can cause the shoe to not properly and evenly engage the brake drum...even if it is perfectly round.....just saying.....you might check...i check and correct any that i see problems with on my builds... I have some nice 66 big Buick rear drums and backing plates if they will fit your car... Peace WildBill
Jeez, you’re right, I should clean all of the backing plate spots when I replace the pads, or even before I replace the pads. I guess I missed that, great to have guys who know their way around old drum brakes!
Back in the day, we used to arc-grind (we actually called it cam-grinding) brake shoes to precisely fit the drum. Obviously this isn't done today due to asbestos; I'm sure all of those cam-grinding machines are gone now - I can remember the shops being brown with asbestos dust. I hate to think how much asbestos that I have breathed. We knew that breathing that dust wasn't healthy, but we honestly didn't know that it had any special hazard. I usually did wear a dust mask, but still...
Hi Tom Can you tell me the difference between the 66-67 LeSabre and Wildcat drums mine are well over 090” and I am struggling to find some for my 66 LeSabre Thanks
FYI kantner sells cast iron drums...no aluminum. However there are two big issues.... 1) they don't come balanced and they need to be... 2) they are 1/2 inch thicker at the hub. This makes your existing wheel stud too short. I speak from experience.
Those are steel drums that are illustrated -- and NOT aluminum...... And as indicated, I have a few ONLY remaining N.O.S. U.S.A. steel Front & Rear Brake Drums..... Don't wait until I am out -- you will REALLY hate life....... Yours, Craig.
And as bostoncat68 clearly states, the Chinese made products are wrong, and have SERIOUS issues... (I will never understand why someone, anyone would have something made -- and not see to it that it would work?!?!?)
Hows about these? https://www.kirbanperformance.com/products.php?search_text=Aluminum+brake+drum&submit_button= Not sure of your application. .....Jim
Thanks for the link, I have tried emailing these guys all week without a response. They may not be interested in selling overseas The drums I need only fit the 66-67 LeSabre. Should have purchased a Wildcat
