I purchased new front brake drums for a 1949 Chevy 3100 (with original huck brakes) from one of the vendors several months ago and have ran into a major issue that I am having troubles coming up with a solution for. That first issue is that the inner casting is not turned enough around the holes for the wheel studs so the inner shield does not fit. I fixed this problem by grinding it flat so the shield fit (I was in a hurry and don't have a lathe). The major issue is that the wheel studs that they provided are too short and the knurled portion does not stick out of the drum enough to hold the hub onto the drum.
The problem is that the original brake drums are about 1/8" thick and the new (cast) drums are about 0.325" thick.
Pictures are here:
http://s1285.photobucket.com/user/1866yellowboy/library/Brake%20DrumI am looking for some opinions on what I can do to solve this problem. The vendor was no help and after 15 emails we got back to the exact problem I told them about in my initial email. They stated the studs were long enough if I did not use the shield on the inside. The shield is factory and I want to keep it. I have looked through the Dorman wheel stud offering and cannot find a wheel stud with a suitable shoulder length and knurl diameter range. The ones that I found that would fit are only knurled on the bottom portion of the shoulder so they would not hold the hub onto the drum. I contacted a couple local machinists and they told me there was no way they would be able to knurl wheel stud shoulders as they were too hard.
Are there any other options? Can I go to the next size wheel stud and still use stock wheels with 1/2" studs/lug nuts assuming I can find the right length(are the domes on 7/16" and 1/2" lug nuts the same)? Should I mill off 1/16 off the cast drum and call it a day?
