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Itinerant Lame Cow Shambles To Salt Lake

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 6:55 am
by Amskeptic
Here is the crack on the left rear drum in the Carson National Forest the day before yesterday:

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I dremelled the drum smooth along the crack(s), then painted the cracked area to see if it was flexing enough to crack the paint:

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A hundred miles up the road, I pulled off on a forest service road. Pulled the hubcap (without my now-missing hubcap remover) and heck yeah the paint is freshly cracked.

While I was there on the side of this forest path inspecting the drum in my tanktop and Hilfigers,
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all hell sneaks up in the form of a hysterical little dog who went right for my shoes, followed by a rather roly-poly woman and her roly-poly friend, and her Had It Up To Here spouse,
"Buster! Buster! Come HERE! Buster! Buster! Bad Buster! Buster! Get over HERE! Buster! Buster!"
"Would you get the damn dog?"
"Buster! Buster! Come HERE! . . . HE WON'T HURT YOU. Buster! Buster! Get over HERE! Buster! Buster!"
"Oh for crying out loud! Get the damn dog!"
"Buster! Buster! Come HERE! Buster! Buster! Why don't YOU get the dog? Bad Buster! Buster! Get over HERE! Buster! Buster!"
Finally, the "damn dog" decides that I am boring and trots over to the Rolypolys quite satisfied, I am sure.

I do not know how cast iron behaves once cracked. I do not know how cast iron behaves with thousands upon thousands of little bend movements as wheels rotate. I do not know how cast iron behaves under 60 mph sweeper bends while being heated by applications of brakes that now judder. I do know that Salt Lake City is 651 miles far away and includes the Soldier Summit pass of 7,477 feet elevation. So I did a calculus of how much more cracking I could deal with before the wheel / drum ran the risk of separating from the hub center. That would be totally bad. Unlike the later composite drums whose only duty is to slow the car (you could drive a late bus with no drums), these drums also serve as hubs that transmit torque and support the car on the wheels. I painted arrows at the ends of the cracks:

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I PM'd rallybug from Shiprock NM to tell him this already-rescheduled appointment may not happen . . . and I mentioned that two new drums are being overnighted to his house from Wolfsburg West, addressed to Colinkellogg Bensamways, since they had no "care of" field on the order form.

Then I drove into the evening with a heightened concentration for any vibrations coming from the rear:

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Well, the gimpy little brown cow shambled the whole 650 miles. Cracks did not propagate. We shall see if the new drums arrived . . . :cyclopsani: :

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Re: Itinerant Lame Cow Shambles To Salt Lake

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:49 am
by Randy in Maine
Cloe is a hardy beast isn't she?

Any thoughts on why the drum cracked?

Re: Itinerant Lame Cow Shambles To Salt Lake

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 8:21 am
by dingo
The age of overnite delivery is convenient..but what would you have done in the good old days ? found some ranch hand to weld that sucker ? or bolt a piece at 90 degrees to the crack ?

Re: Itinerant Lame Cow Shambles To Salt Lake

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 10:27 am
by wcfvw69
Yea, it would be interesting to know why that drum developed a stress crack on it. You think you could get more than 45 years on a simple brake drum.. Sheesh.. Quality parts sure are not what they use to be. lol

I had to drive the girl friends 2009 Chevy Malibu over the weekend. I noted that her turn signal switch no longer self cancels on right turns. Her plastic "chrome" finish is pealing off many switches and the fantastic discoloration of her plastic door panels after only 6 years. Sad to say the least..

Re: Itinerant Lame Cow Shambles To Salt Lake

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 11:10 am
by Randy in Maine
wcfvw69 wrote: Quality parts sure are not what they use to be.
Back in 1970, that drum would have been NEW.

When I restored my dad's 1939 John Deere B tractor, that used a cast iron "water tube" (they did not have an actual water pump they just used the hot water rising to move it around the engine) had to be heated up in an oven before it could be welded from a crack it developed over the years. Few people today can actually weld cast iron anymore. Not much call for it I am sure.

It is still my dad's "parade tractor" (although one might need to be from Iowa to appreciate that concept).

Re: Itinerant Lame Cow Shambles To Salt Lake

Posted: Tue Aug 25, 2015 1:09 pm
by wcfvw69
Randy in Maine wrote:
wcfvw69 wrote: Quality parts sure are not what they use to be.
Back in 1970, that drum would have been NEW.

When I restored my dad's 1939 John Deere B tractor, that used a cast iron "water tube" (they did not have an actual water pump they just used the hot water rising to move it around the engine) had to be heated up in an oven before it could be welded from a crack it developed over the years. Few people today can actually weld cast iron anymore. Not much call for it I am sure.

It is still my dad's "parade tractor" (although one might need to be from Iowa to appreciate that concept).
Yup, 45 years for a rear drum is excellent, I'd say. As I was driving the GF's Chevy with her bad turn signal switch, I chuckled as I thought of my 45 YO turn signal switch in my bus working just fine. You have to give it to those Germans back when VW was great. They built quality entry level cars that have held up amazingly well.

I honestly can't think of any other brand of car that has more cars from the 60's still in existence than VW. The only other entry level cars I still see around these days from that era are Ford Mustangs or muscle cars, though the muscle cars production numbers where no where near what VW was cranking out.

Re: Itinerant Lame Cow Shambles To Salt Lake

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 9:22 am
by Amskeptic
My current drums are Brazilian crap. I knew that when I had to fabricate a fan shim for a r/s drum spacer back in 2012. The Brazilian drums have a reputation for cracking under torque loads.

I have two new German drums sitting on the floor of the car out there, and $475.00 fewer dollars between me and destitution.

I think original drums get wrecked by brake shoes worn down to the backing webs and especially by people who succumb to the suggestion to turn their drums on lathes . . .

The Road Warrior's brake drums were original at 558,238 miles, and yes, I had to back down the brake shoes ridiculously to clear the lip developed on the edge of the drum. The Road Warrior's disks made it to 419,000 miles. So, any guesses as to how long these new drums are going to last? I will install them later today here in Wyoming, and I will allow those unfortunate Brazilian drums revert to the Earth.
Colin

Re: Itinerant Lame Cow Shambles To Salt Lake

Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2015 1:01 pm
by andrewtf
It is still my dad's "parade tractor" (although one might need to be from Iowa to appreciate that concept).
What about us 'Illinoisans' ?
We are celebrating the 'Century of Progress' annual farm show right down the road. Your dad's tractor might even be there at this very moment!

FYI - Randy: Colin is helping to get Big Emma ready for Emma and Sven's even larger epic adventure across the US to (hopefully) Alaska and (hopefully) all the way down to Chili. Cross your fingers.

and Colin: Randy helped them immensely on their trip thru his neck of the woods about 2 years ago (can it be that far in the past already?)

This air cooled community is truly amazing. Hats off to you all.