Kent -- Sorry if it seemed like I was calling you out. That was not my intent. When I was first learning how to do all of this (not from my dad -- he was challenged just by putting gas in the car), I got slapped in the head by a mentor who told me not to spend money I didn't have to, and then proceeded to pretty much say what Martin said above (and that the shoes would wear to fit the grooves in the drum ... which I never saw, come to think of it). Times, methods and materials change, so I thought it was yet another opportunity to explore tribal knowledge "hand me downs" to see it is still valid. In my own case, it's pretty hard to find useable replacement drums for the 1-tons.
Bob -- Great story! I'm sure once that got around, the union reps were pretty respectful when they came to your office ...
