Re: brake drum welding

[Paul G <neong@gte.net>]

Michael wrote:
>When brake drums wear, they will turn them down, within safety tolerances.
>Outside this tolerance, they are replaced. I've never heard of them being
>recycled by welding them up and turning them down to tolerance. Would this
>be a safe alternative?

I know this to be done if the brake drums are espcially rare (its not
cheap).  An automatic welding process welds a "thread" of a bead around the
drum brake face from back to front, then thats recut to the original
diameter (giving you a couple of turns again).

However, in your case below, I don't really know just what would be safest!

>I ask this because I just rebuilt the rear hub on my Freeway (single wheel
>in back). For $150, it has a new tire, wheel cylinder, shoes, and wheel
>seals, and it's been repacked. The drive cog (Polychain) is bolted and spot
>welded directly to the open side of the brake drum, and is, maybe, 1/2"
>larger diameter inside than the drum.

Neon