TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri Jul 06, 2012 7:07 am

I got an offer to buy those B-drums. Are they even possible to save? They look to corroded to me. What do you guys think?

Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:43 am

It is really hard to tell from the pics if they are salvagable or not. Maybe he'll let you take them & clean them up before you hand over the cash or at least have someone look at them in person? I guess it depends on the price wether you take a chance or not.

Fri Jul 06, 2012 10:25 am

Especially the first drum looks really bad as the surface were the rim should rest is so corroded that it is not even flat anymore but I dont know. I never dealt with Porsche brakes before.

Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:06 pm

Mr. Nize:

The issues you should be worried about are the splines and the condition and thickness of the steel liners. The spiffiest drums in the world are worthless without good splines and liners. And judging by the poor fotos, it seems what you see is evidence of serious corrosion of the steel parts (splines), so that I, for one, would expect the worst of the steel liners.

Unless the seller provides clear close-ups of the splines and good shots (and actual measurements) of the liners, I figure its a safe bet you'll regret the purchase.

Just one guy's opinion.

Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:22 pm

Got two more pictures...

Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:59 am

Mr Szabo is correct in saying look carefully at the splines. Those last 2 photo's seem to show them in poor condition. Looks like they have been rattling around a bit to me. The inside of the drum as expected looks better than the outside and the liners although rusty might be okay. Again if the splines are defective then the roundness value of the liner might also be all over the place.

I would look for others, I think.

Roy

Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:47 pm

Good used A or B brake drums, in all areas excepting, or so I've heard, Cali, are hard to find.
It's a nasty process called "bi-metal corrosion" meaning that cast iron and (forged) aluminum don't stay friends forever. That creates some swelling between drum and lining and the dreaded "hot spots" that won't ever go away.
The only solution is to rebuild those core drums that are worth doing by one of the few-and-far-between persons who can handle that task of doing whatever it takes to make them safe and strong...and worth doing at all
(Call Brad Ripley in Reno...Stoddard NLA LLC.... for his advice.)
Those shown are hardly good cores for resplining and relining with those wheel-mounting surfaces being that corroded. A machinist could turn that down and create a plate as a substitute, but the price better be REALLY cheap with all the work anticipated from even those fuzzy pictures.

Brakes: "If ya can't stop, ya shouldn't go!"