Front brake drum question
 

Replacing the front drums on my '61 Apache 10. The original hub assemblies are fastened to the drums with three rivets. The new drums do not have any provision to fasten the drums to the hubs, unless I take them to a machine shop and have them drilled. I personally do not know what the reasoning is to having the drums fastened permanently to the hub, but that doesnt mean there isnt a good reason for doing so. Should I make a trip to the shop, or just skip it? TIA, Tony

You could always drill a hole in the rivets, gradually stepping up the size of the hole and then smack the head off with a chisel.

Thanks for the reply,I guess I didnt make my question clear, Getting the hubs separated from the old drums is not the problem, The question is, is it necessary to re-rivet(or grade 8 bolt) them to the new drums?

I'm pretty sure you don't need to. The hub is held on by the spindle nut and cotter key. Your wheels and drums stay on by way of the lugnuts. I wish I could explain better, but it's been several years since I had to do this to mine.

I had the front drums off my 67 a while ago and I found it extremely strange that they were rivetted to the hub. Your wheels will keep the drum nice and secure, next time mine are off the rivets are history!

Personally I'd get rid of those rivets, and I'd have the holes in the hub assemblies threaded for flat headed/standard head (not phillips!) machine screws (so you can tighten them with an impact driver). That's what holds my drums to the hub assemblies now and I've had no problems. If your drums are in spec then they'll have to be beveled to take the screw heads so you won't have clearance issues with your wheels.

Any brake shop should be able to do this for you if they're worth their salt. Otherwise you'll have to separate the hub assmblies from the spindle, take a drum with you, and have it done at a machine shop.

I agree. My '69 was like that . I drilled them out just to service the brakes after I bought the truck. Freaked me out. I think they were done to keep some metal meat on if a drum blew-up. But if you don't shave them down close to specs that should'nt happen.

Take the rivets out they are a pain in the neck! I took mine out a long time ago and didn't put any rivets or bolts back in. If you do everytime ya want to replace the drum shoes you will have to take the whole hup off and that just sucks! I just grinded the heads off mine and punched them out. Now they come off easy for break pad check etc. :) Don't even fill them back in just a waste of time. I still got the 4-way drums on my truck :)