Rear Axle: Remove brake drum swedge

[LeoH]

So, there is someone with a Studebaker I know, who's removed the swedge around the rear brake drum studs in order to allow the drums to come off without needing a drum puller.

How many others of you also do this, or have done this workaround, instead of buying flanged axles?

[DEEPNHOCK]

Here's the tool you need.

https://www.goodson.com/Brake-Drum-Swedge-Cutting-Tool/

So, there is someone with a Studebaker I know, who's removed the swedge around the rear brake drum studs in order to allow the drums to come off without needing a drum puller.

How many others of you also do this, or have done this workaround, instead of buying flanged axles?

[tim333]

How about putting the drums back on since the swedge is gone?

[karterfred88]

Deepnhock's tool works great-if you can't find one go to your hardware store, get a 5/8" hole saw, remove the drill bit, put some oil on the lug stud and grind off the swage. Still need to replace the lug studs but cheap quick and easy,

[DEEPNHOCK]

If there was a lip on the hub for the drum to ride on, this would be fine (as done on other marques).
But with no lip, you are centering the drum by using the studs.
The slop in the holes can cause the drum to not stay centered and could cause some brake oscillation.

How about putting the drums back on since the swedge is gone?

[studeski]

I would use the tool that Jeff shows. Even being real careful the 5/8" hole saw won't last long.

[doofus]

I have seen some drums with several small holes between studs with a counter sunk, threaded hole and small screw for alignment purposes.the counter sink is half in the drum and half in the hub. just a thought. you would want to do this before separating hub and drum. Luck Doofus

[LeoH]

Hm. Okay, this is a thing that folks do. It also seems more than something I want to futz with, the drum puller is a pita, but at least it's a known process for me. I was curious about it, it just seemed like there could be serious issues if you didn't do this correctly.

[57pack]

Had the swage come apart on a front drum brake on our 1964 Commander.
Made a hell of a noise making a left turn!

[345 DeSoto]

I know this is an older Thread, but two things. First when cutting the swedge, DO NOT cut into the drum! It will need to ride on the stud to be perfectly centered. Second What size Cutter would our Studebakers take? My Model T used a half inch cutter....but that was a 27 Ford.

[karterfred88]

The studs are 1/2-20 thread so I'd guess one for 1/2" would fit over the threads. That's why I used a 5/8 hole saw, which at $8.99 was less expensive and works fine with no sign of wear after zapping 10 swages on my Avanti, but your money your choice.

[Dan Timberlake]

There are some real name brand nice hole saws at Home Depot and Lowes. I'd expect any of them to outlast any from 'arbor Freight.

Gotta think the brake drums were centered initially by the stud body diameter, so removing the swage carefully would leave some of the centering feature behind.
Otherwise the brand new brake drum would have to be bored concentric with the hub after being swaged in place. if the drum OD was very eccentric the resulting unbalance would have to be corrected too.

Surgical removal of just the swage may be an advantage of the broad faced cutting edges on the "real" tool.

[63 R2 Hawk]

When I bought my GT Hawk it had one finned and one non finned drum. The studs on the non finned drum were not swaged, which surprised me when I replaced it with a new finned drum. Never had any issues related to non-centric drums and I drove it/braked it pretty hard for several years! My recollection is that the studs fit snugly in the holes, so it's possible someone did some creative machining to make it fit right.

[Skybolt]

I have seen some drums with several small holes between studs with a counter sunk, threaded hole and small screw for alignment purposes.the counter sink is half in the drum and half in the hub. just a thought. you would want to do this before separating hub and drum. Luck Doofus

This is a good idea. I was going to do this to my 44 except I now have flanged axles.

I did, however, remove the swage on the rear for my Dana 27 and replaced the studs with Volo studs. After replacing the drums, and before tightening the wheel nuts, I always applied the brakes to center the drum. Not as good as what doofus suggested but adequate. I did not have any problems.

I was using the advice from this link, page 12, on the Volvo studs: http://www.studebaker-info.org/tech/...rakes_long.pdf

Len

[Jeffry Cassel]

Might not be a really good idea to do this