Not on my watch Alvin. with the heat generated in a drum brake
and the different coefficients of expansion of steel and
Meehanite cast iron, welding a liner in a drum would be a
disaster waiting to happen.
Appears to be some confusion as to what I was talking about. I
did not mean weld a steel lining in the cast drum. This whole
idea was just a passing thought, something like gas, you know.
What I meant was to swap centers with a later model drum and
it was just a thought. I really haven't delved into this very
deep, got enough projects going on right now and I'm not in
need of brake drums at this time.
With out having an early Huck drum and a later Bendix drum on
the table in front of me to compare, it's hard to visualize
just where the problems lie. If it's just a width problem then
it may be possible to face the drum down to the narrower
width if there were enough thickness. If it's an offset
problem then the only solution would be to cut out the center
from both and weld the old center into the new drum. This
would have to be done on the steel center, not on the cast
drum rim.
I've never been able to find any information on how two piece
drums, that is, cast/steel are made but I think the steel
centers may be cast or potted into the drum at the time they
are poured rather than welded together.
When you look at the joint of a cast drum/sheet steel center
it appears by the step that there was a lot of material
machined away before the finish diameter was reached.
Any way you look at it, this would be a major project that
would involve a LOT more engineering and tooling than I'm
capable of or would feel safe with.
DG
