BN2 Brake Drums

[Gundog61]

A year into our Healey, which was a resto started by my father in law, and finished by us upon his death. We decided to put new wheels and tires on this year, and in doing so the brake drums had been painted black, and from what I can tell they were silver from the factory. So I am going to sand blast and paint them silver. I just noticed that they are different in respect to, it looks like a 1/3 of the outside ridge has been remove maybe for balancing, or maybe they are not original and from different years.

Could anyone provide insight on this? Where they factory balanced and modified?

Thanks Todd

 

[BobHaskell]

Todd,
The factory didn't balanced brake drums. And they can have a lot of imbalance. Getting them balanced is one way to reduce the infamous scuttle shake. Allen Hendrix at Hendrix Wire Wheel balances drums. But he adds material, doesn't remove it.

Yes, the drums were originally silver. The same color as painted wire wheels.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

FWIW, my BN2/100M--mostly original AFAIK--has had significant metal removed from the ridges; I've always assumed it was for balancing. The metal was removed very cleanly and, apparently, 'professionally.' I've always wondered what kind of machine/process was used as there aren't any grind marks or other evidence and I don't think this could be done on, for instance, a common machine like a lathe. If not done at the (wheel) factory, I'd be curious to know if it was done at/by dealers or others.

My car had horrendous scuttle shake with what appeared to be its original wheels; a new set of MWS wires and Vredesteins all but completely eliminated it. I had it out yesterday for a drive in the foothills; now, with no shake and rebuilt dampers, I can feel every crack in the pavement

 

[BoyRacer]

I've balanced many rear brake drums on Healey 3000s. The most serious out of balance drums I've encountered took around 3 ounces to balance. Rather than add weigh to one side, I would slice off a portion of the rib (on the opposing side) that extends around the outside of the drum. To remove 3 ounces of weight takes a slice about 3-1/2 to 4 inches long. I used a good quality (not harbor Freight) bubble balancer. I use an angle grinder with a cut-off wheel.

 

[MikeAH100M]

My '56 had the same chunks of metal removed from the drums, but I still had some scuttle shake. Sent Vredestein tires and my rims to Allen Hendrix. He balanced and trimmed/trued the tires on the wire wheels. Result - no scuttle shake.

 

[Gundog61]

Thank you all for the responses. I am thinking that the drums had some type of rough balance from the drum manufacturer. I have a brand new set of wheels and tires from Hendrix waiting to go on. I needed to replace my hub extensions; one was really bad.
Allen Hendrix’s was awesome, and I enjoyed the conversations we had and learned a lot.