wheel binding after torquing lug nuts 63 c10

[neverwinter]

hey all - back again with dumb questions. as i am now paranoid about losing another wheel i anted to ask a question before attempting to fix/drive the c10.

las week i was out and must have had some loose lug nuts and my front driver fell off. did some fender damage so i replaced the fender. i was old the drum seemed pretty good and had 1 flat spot about 1 inch wide.

i did buy a new drum but i cant get the old center bearing setup out of the old one so i decided to replace the broken wheel stud on the old drum and try and reuse it.

heres the latest issue: i put the drum on and spun it to check it out. spun around fully no problem and no wobbles. put the tire on and loosely tightened the lug nuts and the tire spun fine. however when i tightened the lug nuts down with the impact wrench, the wheel now binds. i can spin the wheel about 2/3 of the way around but then it binds and some force is needed to get it the wheel to continue moving.

i understand how this could happen with disk brakes but with drums it seems odd? did i just overtighten the lug nuts? i know thats a rookie question but i usually tighten the lug nuts pretty good (when i remeber to check them) and have always just impact wrench them on. never to a tq spec. im going to try torquing them to the book spec of 55-65 ft pounds.

i just want to be safe enough to get the truck to my mechanic and have him verify wy work and the safety items. am i missing something here? i also made sure that after i repacked the beaing that the spacer was in correctly and that the drum spun correctly without binding. the dust cap was a bit of a pain to get on - might that be indicative of something?

thanks for the help again.

- jason

[Chevy Fleetside]

When your wheel fell off and the drum hit the ground, it could have bent the drum to where you can't see. After you tighten up the wheel it is probably pushing on the drum weird and then binding up with the brake shoes. This is just an observation. I think to change the hub in the drums you have to press all of the lug bolts out and the center should come out or there is just enough rust in there to hold the hub in. But then again if the drum hit the ground that would definatly loosen it up. You may have to take it to a machine shop and get it swapped over.
Also see if your wheel is bent now. Maybe the tire is binding on something.