14 bolt drums

[Schurkey]

O'Reillys was quoting me $30+ to do the big iron from my K2500. Then the story was that they couldn't do either the drums or the rotors--I forget which--'cause they were bigger than their lathe would accept.

Eventually, I put the left front rotor, and both rear drums right back on without machining. The right-side rotor got replaced with new.

 

[Schurkey]

I loved cutting iron. It's mesmerizing. You can watch the cutter bits whittle away the scoring, while the noise comes and goes as the bits drift over the deeper scores. I always took light cuts--spent more time and lost money in the process--in part because I didn't want to cut the iron too thin, and in part in deference to the age and therefore light-duty nature of our brake lathe.

Eventually, I'd wind up with virgin-new metal on the braking surface. Decently smooth compared to the previous scoring, but not so beautiful as modern lathes can do, or "new" iron is.

Just seemed very satisfying. SWMBO's Trailblazer rotor, as swiped from the Parts Vehicle:

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[454cid]

Yeah, I would too.

That must be the "pi_ss off, we don't want to deal with it" price. That, or you're dealing with heavy 3/4- or 1-ton rotors/drums. That's beyond what my brake lathe will accept. We used to have to outsource the remachining of the bigger iron.

Yes, it was my SRW 1-ton drums. I figured they'd be little compared to what they must handle when they're working on the bigger trucks.

 

[Road Trip]

Yes, it was my SRW 1-ton drums. I figured they'd be little compared to what they must handle when they're working on the bigger trucks.

That's how I felt at PBS Brakes. Looked like 99+% of their work was for delivery trucks & 18-wheeler rigs.
At first glance I was pretty sure they weren't going to do my 'puny' drums. Glad I was wrong. :0)

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

I loved cutting iron. It's mesmerizing. You can watch the cutter bits whittle away the scoring, while the noise comes and goes as the bits drift over the deeper scores. I always took light cuts--spent more time and lost money in the process--in part because I didn't want to cut the iron too thin, and in part in deference to the age and therefore light-duty nature of our brake lathe.

Eventually, I'd wind up with virgin-new metal on the braking surface. Decently smooth compared to the previous scoring, but not so beautiful as modern lathes can do, or "new" iron is.

Just seemed very satisfying. SWMBO's Trailblazer rotor, as swiped from the Parts Vehicle:

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Yup I enjoyed the work, and it was always rewarding to see how nice they looked when I was done. And I took my time too, because I didn't want to take too much off. That lathe looks older than me lolol (I'm 56). Our lathe was a lot bigger than that one; took 3 or 4 people to get it in and out of our half ton pickup.

 

[Schurkey]

I don't know how old that lathe is. Early- to mid-'70s, I suppose, because that's when the building and original business was built, that the guy I worked-for took over in 1983.

What's in the photo is the rotor section. The drum section is farther to the left, but only a bit of it--the feed-wheel--is in that picture. Both the drum and the rotor section are bolted to the cabinet, with peg-board storage for the various cones and adapters.

Poor thing really needs to be pulled-apart, cleaned, and re-painted. Maybe with new bearings the surface finish would improve. Not sure Bear is still in business.

When a group of folks decided to compete against Bear, they named their company "Hunter".

 

[EKOBS]

Any common drums are going to be Chinese. The quality will be variable.

MAYBE there are some "boutique" brands with non-Communist drums for sale. I don't know about 'em.

Haul the defective ones back to the store, have them get you a replacement set...and hope they're better.

For the record...WHICH "14-bolt" is this? Kinda guessing 9.5" semi-float. Are you sure it's the drums that are out-of-round, and not a bent axle shaft, or shaft flange? No contamination on the flange to prevent the drum from seating "flat" on the flange?

This is the 10 1/2” full float dual wheel axle.

 

[Rock Hard Concrete]

I had my dually drums replaced last year and had to go through some bs with the chinesium. Apparently the problem is that the drums are shipped improperly causing them to warp sitting in a shipping container for months. The first pair of drums I had installed were so bad the truck almost shook off of the highway when slowing for a roundabout. When checked by the shop, they said they were so out of round that they couldn'tbe machined true. They ended up getting new drums and turned them before installation. I wish they did that with the first pair and saved me downtime.

 

[EKOBS]

Any common drums are going to be Chinese. The quality will be variable.

MAYBE there are some "boutique" brands with non-Communist drums for sale. I don't know about 'em.

Haul the defective ones back to the store, have them get you a replacement set...and hope they're better.

For the record...WHICH "14-bolt" is this? Kinda guessing 9.5" semi-float. Are you sure it's the drums that are out-of-round, and not a bent axle shaft, or shaft flange? No contamination on the flange to prevent the drum from seating "flat" on the flange?

Thank you for your reply. If I can find some American made drums I will buy them, at some point this made in China stuff must stop. This is a 14 bolt from a dual wheel one ton and so far the axles are not installed. I started with the wheel studs, all eight, installed and tight, but then loosened them up to be able to beat it to within 0.013”. On the other side I started with just four of the wheel studs and with strategic tightening and beating was able to get it to 0.0035”, but I still need to install the other four wheel studs.

 

[EKOBS]

Greetings EKOBS,

Last summer I was faced with a similar situation. Here's a quick summary,
followed by some questions & a recommendation based on my own
experiences.

****

Thanks to the PO deleting the RR parking brake cable & the need to get
a NY safety inspection sticker this past summer, I was forced to open up
the right rear drum brake on my '99 C2500. (8-lug, JD7 brakes)

Upon opening, I was surprised by deeply heat-cracked shoes, for the truck
had been stopping without any misbehavior up to this point? Found the same
heat cracking on the driver's side, so this meant that I had no choice but to do a
complete refresh of the rear brakes.

So my first thought was to bite the bullet & replace the old 13" drums with new, OEM quality
in order to match all the other new bits. But the more I read, the more I realized that buying
new drums in 2023 was going to be a complete crapshoot at best.

Realistically speaking, I needed to budget for a pair of new brake drums PLUS having
them immediately turned by a local brake specialist to true them up, and then put
them on the truck. (NOTE: I really dislike vibrating/shuddering brakes, just as
unacceptable as driving with bad steering.)

So I decided to see if my 'well behaved' original drums could be turned just enough
to clean them up for the new shoes I was installing? It took a bit of searching, but
after calling several businesses with no joy, I was finally referred to the last business
in the greater Syracuse area that still machines brake drums.

And they nailed it. The guy that did the work (Mike) has been doing this for 25+ years.
They charged me a flat $20 per drum for their work. During reassembly, when I
adjusted the new shoes for a *slight* drag, they did so evenly throughout the
full 360° of rotation. Best of all, once the truck was back on the road, the rear
brakes perform flawlessly.

The company I used was PBS Brake & Supply. Here's their contact info:

PBS Brake & Supply -- 6044 Corporate Dr. East Syracuse, NY -- ph: (315) 463-4541

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NOTE: They are located in an industrial park area near the southeast corner of the Syracuse International Airport.

****

I realize that Buffalo is too far away for you to justify using these folks, but
I'm thinking that you must have a similar brake specialty business in your neck
of the woods? (And if you can't locate them, possibly call the folks at PBS Brake
and ask them if they have a place in Buffalo they either own or could recommend?)

Thinking back to my own situation, when they checked my 13" drums, they stated
that they had never been turned, so no problem turning them. (They weren't
going to touch them if they were already oversize or would have to be cut oversize in
order to clean them up. Follow this LINK to see what I ended up with.)

Q1: Are you retiring your old drums because they are unserviceable? Or were you
thinking (like I was) that new should be better than old? If you are lucky, possibly
your old drums can be remachined, allowing you to return those bogus new drums
for a refund?

Q2: Assuming you get these new, out of spec drums replaced under warranty, if
the replacements spin true then you should be good to go. But if the 2nd set is also out of
round, would you be willing to have them trued up by a local brake specialist?

****

Just throwing out some ideas for you to ponder. Although I'm pretty frugal,
my decisions on the brakes were driven by performance, not price. Just
happened that the best of all worlds was remachining the OEM drums that
the truck came with.

10+ years ago, the above would have sounded ludicrous. But for a bunch
of reasons outside the scope of this discussion, it's a brave new world we're
living in. Every single thing now falls into the "Trust, but Verify" category. :-(

Best of luck getting this sorted out.

Cheers --

I was thinking similar to you in that new shoes were better on new drums, but the old drums are still around if needed, I haven’t measured them yet. I am now looking for some place willing to turn my drums & hubs true and hopefully balance them afterward. I’m confident that 65 lbs. spinning out of round and out of balance is a miserable way to drive around.