Drum Brake Article

[BigDan3131]

Since so many of us are on strict budgets or just have redone your drums I was going to order new drums for my 64 El Camino from POL and they have an option now for cross drilling them. I Googled it and came across this article: http://www.chtopping.com/CustomRod4/ which was interesting because 15 years ago I drilled mine for the heck of it when everyone was telling me I'm nuts.

It works...might drill my brand new drums for the 65 GMC now too.

[LostMy65]

Sounds interesting, but I wonder why we've never seen it used by any auto manufacturers.

[Palf70Step]

Neat article. I was wondering same thing.

[The Rocknrod]

Originally Posted by LostMy65

... I wonder why we've never seen it used by any auto manufacturers.

Because of articles like this and the litigious nature of our society.
https://ebcbrakes.com/articles/dange...rilled-rotors/

[mike16]

It was a fad back in the 80's as well. It was determined not to be a good idea for drums. Its not a good idea even now.

[LostMy65]

But for our trucks, with how simple it is to just roll out our stock crossmember and roll under a 73+ with discs, it doesn't seem practical to stick with drums.

[mike16]

Drums work fine, they did then and do so now, and remember they worked good with or without a load on. drums are much maligned.

I got factory disc's on my 72 c10 and drums on my 68 k20 would not trade either for anything. The dont scare me much when I try to stop. everybody else? I dont know.

just my 2 cents

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by mike16

Drums work fine, they did then and do so now, and remember they worked good with or without a load on. drums are much maligned.

I got factory disc's on my 72 c10 and drums on my 68 k20 would not trade either for anything. The dont scare me much when I try to stop. everybody else? I dont know.

just my 2 cents

Drums all around on mine too.
I just follow at a minimum distance of one car length per 10mph.

[AcampoDave]

Originally Posted by mike16

Drums work fine, they did then and do so now, and remember they worked good with or without a load on. drums are much maligned.

I got factory disc's on my 72 c10 and drums on my 68 k20 would not trade either for anything. The dont scare me much when I try to stop. everybody else? I dont know.

just my 2 cents

Same here, I have disc on my 66 and drums on my 64. Drums work fine if you have a split system and keep it maintained. I hear people trash talk drums, (usually after going disc) but I don't have a problem with drums. The truck is mostly stock and it works as designed.

[AcampoDave]

Originally Posted by mike16

Drums work fine, they did then and do so now, and remember they worked good with or without a load on. drums are much maligned.

I got factory disc's on my 72 c10 and drums on my 68 k20 would not trade either for anything. The dont scare me much when I try to stop. everybody else? I dont know.

just my 2 cents

Same here, I have disc on my 66 and drums on my 64. Drums work fine if you have a split system and keep it maintained. I hear people trash talk drums, (usually after going disc) but I don't have a problem with drums. The truck is mostly stock and it works as designed.

[scuderia]

I've got a '64 vette roadster and a '66 C10 both with 11" drums, they also weigh within 100lbs of each other. When doing the vette brakes we used Porterfield "racing compound" shoes and the C10 just your normal NAPA replacements. The vette stops twice as good as the C10. Will be switching it to Porterfields at some point hopefully before I run in to the back of someone..

[shp4man]

My truck has 4 wheel drums. If they're in good condition, they work pretty well. Of course a modern ABS system can stop faster, but just modulating pedal pressure to keep the wheels from locking up works almost as well.

[LostMy65]

Yes, the drums on our trucks can serve us fine. But I really don't think we can point to a "Study" that doesn't say disc brakes are superior.
This isn't to perpetuate the argument of discs vs drums, I only posted that if we're going to go to the expense to send our drums out to be drilled, it would make more sense to just roll under a 73+ disc brake crossmember.

[BigDan3131]

I drilled my own, I marked them evenly and took my time. Plus drilling holes 1" apart on the backing plates helps let water out too and to cool them. Before drilling the drums, with just the drilled backing plates it made a huge difference in the rain.