Nos surprise??

BILL WILLIAMSON

BILL WILLIAMSON

Well-known member
Just removed 16" wheels from my Early, June '29 Coupe, Vermin, discovered beautiful, smooth, black painted, STEEL! drums, with perfect, uniform swaging on all lug bolts!! Will remove drums tomorrow to see if there are MORE amazing discoveries!
QUESTIONS:
1 When were these last supplied by Ford?
2 When, if ever, were these repoed by others?
3 When new, what was their finished diameter?
I'm aware that they were not to be re-machined & they were to be used with woven lining.
Any other facts or info will be appreciated.
**** Don't tell the Dog:cool: I want to SURPRISE him!! Bill W.
 
Most Model A pressed steel drums have been turned and many are too thin to reuse. Have a brake shop measure yours to see if they are under size. They were 11" when new. I think .040 under size is about the max. New cast iron drums are available and work great but you'll need someone to change out the hubs that has experience with that process.
 
Iron drums work better. Steel drums expand more when heated, that's why drum bands were so popular. Having said that, if yours are near standard, go ahead and use them. You will find out if they work well enough for your kind of driving. p.s. I may tell your dog!
 
All,
No documented history on Vermin, lots of old pics & some "HERESAY" "RIP-VAN VERMIN'S" been sleeping since '87 with a rebuilt engine that's been run a slight amount. I fired it 2 1/2 years ago & it ran perfect. I hope to find new drums, woven lining & perfect shoe contact & floater anchors! Rear end & trans had some whispers of odd sounds, 1/8 cup of oil drained from each!! SOMEBODY FORGOT to refill them!! I label Vermin as a RETRO-RESTO:confused:
Bill W.
 
Not sure why the orginial drums were swedged, newer cars have brake drums that slide on over the studs and I have never seen a problem, I conclude the stud holes must be oversized to require this?
 
bigguy said:
Not sure why the orginial drums were swedged, newer cars have brake drums that slide on over the studs and I have never seen a problem, I conclude the stud holes must be oversized to require this?
Click to expand...
ALL Model A lug bolts ARE swedged! Ol' Henry designed them that way! (Model A 101) Bill W.
 
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The last near NOS brake parts I had were new shoes. Too bad they were on the rear and the rear axle seals were shot. Linings were saturated with 600 wt. I did not even try to save the linings as I likely would not have ever gotten all of that heavy oil out. Rod
 
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