Brake drums

[B C.]

Hey there
I'm in the process of redoing the brakes on my 62 and am replacing
the front drums.
The only drums available locally do not have the groove to hold the
anti-chatter spring and they are less expensive.
Is this spring really necessary or do I just assume the new drums do
not require these?

thanx
BJ

[Mike E.]

Re: Brake drums

Those, as you probably know, are anti-squeak springs. You only need them a) if your brakes squeak, or b) if you have the car judged.
Do make sure that the drums are decent quality, because in braking, cheaper is not necessarily better.

[Roy B.]

Re: Brake drums

At times you can find them on e-bay under chevy 48 up new or good used ones

[Timothy B.]

Re: Brake drums

How do the springs keep the drums from squeaking? I always thought out of round drums do this. My 63 had two springs on the front and none on the rear, I don't know if they were missing or used only on the front.

[John H.]

Re: Brake drums

How do the springs keep the drums from squeaking? I always thought out of round drums do this. My 63 had two springs on the front and none on the rear, I don't know if they were missing or used only on the front.

Tim-

The springs damp the harmonics developed in the drum that result in the "squeaking".

[B C.]

Re: Brake drums

Thanx for the responses.
Several old time mechanics in the area tell me they remember these springs
rusting off in the 60's and nobody paid a lot of attention to replacing them.
I worked in the trade then and do remember similar situations, I also
remember changing these springs over to new drums (in the 60's).
Many aftermarket drums did not have the groove for the spring but GM drums did.
The drums I have from Car Quest do not have the groove but here is an
interesting bit of info.
The old drums had a discard spec of 11.060 but they had the groove.
The new drums have a discard spec of 11.090 with no groove.
One explanation is this extra thickness on the new drums may dampen the harmonics without a spring and along with the newer technology friction materials, squeaking may not occur.
I'm going to use the Car Quest drums, I'll let you know how it goes.

cheers
BJ