Went to do the front brakes on my 66 Cutlass and found this on the passenger side. It appears the drum and hub are one piece, the drivers side is a normal 2 piece set up with a finned drum. I stopped and put everything back together because I'm not sure what I'm dealing with. Any thoughts? Is there a chance under that franken drum the rest of the parts are proper 66 cutlass? I'm thinking new hubs an drums potentially spindle as well, possibly a good reason to upgrade to disc brakes.

 

That is a 2 piece hub/drum assy. You have to remove the assy and knock out the wheel studs and it will come apart. The rest of the internal brake parts should be the same as the other side. You need to take all that apart to clean/inspect/pack the wheel bearings anyway.

 

oldcutlass, thanks for the reply. There are two reasons I was thinting this was a one piece drum/hub. First the wheel studs appear to be mounted into the drum, the splines are visible and there is no gap between the studs and holes like you normally have. Second there is zero play or side to side movement in the drum, and yes the brake pads are loose it spins freely with 0 drag. I guess I'll have to pick up some bearing grease and pull it all apart. Yes I know they probably need it but since there is no play and the bearings feel smooth I was wanting to leave well enough alone.......oh well such is life when you own old cars. I'll report back in a few days when I have the time to rip it all apart.

 

You only showed pictures of the one side. This is the correct bell type drum used on these cars. I suspect the other side is the finned type and at some point was replaced for some reason. Drum brakes are fine if correctly installed and maintained. If you are looking for any reason to upgrade to drum just do it. the difference is amazing. I also suspect the car pulls to one side if the drums are not pretty closely matched. Both drums are correct on the car but should be matched in my opinion.

 

Yes the wheel studs are splined to go into the drum. If you press/knock the studs out, you will have 2 pieces. Again wheel bearings need to be inspected/repacked or replaced and repacked periodically as preventative maintenance. Most do it when they do a brake job.

 

The originals were like this passenger side hub/drum. Chevy, etc. used the two piece design some years. Remove the outer bearing and pull off the assembly after pushing the auto adjuster out of the way and retracting the shoes by turning the adjuster screw.

 

Thanks, it really threw me because it looks different than the replacement drums as well as the drivers side where everything is separate. If I replace the drum do I need to get a different hub?

 

No.

 

Well that's a relief, I was searching last night and the only thing I could find was almost a full set hubs & bearings for close to $100. Which really is interested bad but i wasn't planning on spending that much more on this brake project. I will probably replace the drum though. With drums is it best to replace both drums simultaneously or does it not really matter much if one is good? The drivers side looks practically new on the inside, not even a lip from wear.

 

If you are not having vibrations when you apply the brakes and the car stops fine, there is no need to replace. If there is a vibration then a light cutting of the drum to true it can be performed by most auto parts stores.

You issue is seems to be with the visual difference not the functional.

 

Good luck finding a place to turn drums anymore. I went through this with the original drums on my 67 Delta last fall. Yeah, I'm aware that places like Adavance and Autozone allegedly turn drums for free. There is NO WAY I was going to trust them with the unobtanium drums from my D88. The employees at all three of my local NAPA stores looked at me like I had three heads when I asked about turning drums. Bottom line is that none of them do it any more. I finally went to an automotive machine shop and paid an insane price to get four drums turned.

I can only hope things are different where you live, but here in the DC area, it's parts replacing only.

 

The visual issue was found because I'm having some brake problems, pulling sometimes left & sometimes right. Also there was what felt like possible grinding in the left drum. I was pulling the drums to see their condition so I knew if I needed to order them aswell while I wait on the parts to come in to replace the internals. On the up side the left drum which I thought was gona be torn up is fine, actually looks almost unworn on the inside.

 

I'm in a similar spot here, however I was able to find a brake shop that can turn them, not sure if I trust them though. Biggest down side to turning them is they want only a few bucks less to turn them that it would cost to replace.

 

I watch them turn my drums here and ensure they take the minimum amount of metal off to true them. If they won't let me watch I go somewhere else. There are 3 or 4 places here in Mayberry that do it.

Even if you buy new drums, I've found they need to be trued occasionally.

 

Too many lawyers here. "Our insurance doesn't permit customers in the shop."

Pretty much ALL the time these days with Chinesium drums (and good luck finding drums that are NOT Chinesium any more, including the NAPA premium line).

 

Yeah, that does not work with me, shops have been saying that since the 70's. Generally I've found that you can still talk them into it, if not I go somewhere else that will.

 

Thanks, you guys have been a big help. When the parts come in and I get it taken care of I'll follow up. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't run into any more issues. I may put in new bearings just cause since I'll have the one apart already. Is the torque spec for installing the bearings 12lbs then back off one flat?

 

Did your fronts have grease caps? Look awfully dry and dirty!!