Adhesive for a jet plane???? It's going to fly off!!!
They were surplus from Allegiant Air.
1959 Driveshaft
- Thread starter 1959chevybr
- Start date
They were surplus from Allegiant Air.
Does't your drums have a double edge lip on the inboard edge of the outside diameter? This is quite thick and is a good place to trim excess weight for balance. Either drill , or tru up this thick lip on a lathe. The outboard side edge, ( just above the weight location) is also quite thick and can be drilled with about 1/4 inch deep ( partial holes) horizontally for balance. Your only looking for a few ounces for balance, If reducing rotating weight were what you were after, I know 5 lbs. of weight removal is possible per drum. Thats on original drums though, which might have been heavier that those china made ones.
There should also be enough material that you might be able to drill and tap a couple holes along with the adhesive?
1959chevybr
Well Known Member
I agree, the factory drums have a double edge and before it is over I feel I will be back to both factory drums. The second lip could be milled to balance things up, good suggestion. The China drum has a single lip but weighs much more than factory drum. I am going to take calipers and figure the thickness on the outer crown as that seems to be the most meaty area. The weights we added worked just fine today (about 50) but I would like to do some grinding or drilling that would make me more comfortable long term.
1959chevybr
Well Known Member
Today was test day, balanced drive shaft, balanced brake drums (the temp fix on the brake drums held up just fine) and angles I think we can live with. Traffic was tolerable today so I got about 50 miles in and was able to vary speed from 55-75. The car was the best it has ever been,,,,, perfect? maybe not but very tolerable. I think the vibrations we worked on are for the most part GONE. At 75 it is smooth as glass. From 61-63 MPH there is more of a rough ride like tires than a real vibration. I can be riding at 61 MPH and there seems there might be some vibration but when I hit a different section of road at the same 61 MPH it is gone. I think the tires leave something to be desired. I am not a fan of low profile tires but I was looking for a rest-o-rod look so that's the direction I went. They are 265/45/18 and 245/45/17, not extreme low profile but I think not designed for a good ride. I do think these Coopers are worst than some and if I knew for sure another brand that was better in the ride department I would buy them. But let me regress, I am now positive we had two major vibrations. Angles caused drive shaft vibration and one brake drum that was more than 6 ounces out of balance. When I worked on the angles it never showed improvement ( good or bad) due to the brake drum vibration masking the actions, just could not differentiate the two vibrations. What got us on track was one time we made the angles so much better we were confident we had made things better even though there was still vibration, it was different, more isolated. It is very difficult to describe and it was difficult to find. My advice to others is this, assume there might be more than one cause of the same related result. We should have checked out the drums more in depth as was suggested (and we did eventually). It was the fact we knew the angles were off and I could put my hands on the drive shaft and know it was vibrating that kept us banging our head on that wall. Today the angles are not perfect and we now know why. The car sits 1 1/4 inches lower in the rear than the specs call for, at least we assume this is the reason. It calls for 6 1/4 inch (top of axle to arch) and I have less. I bought a 58 service manual and it is a great source of information, I have a 59 but it is just a supplement. I am smiling pretty wide today. We did a huge amount of work and expense that did not work out but we did a lot that were improvements. I now have a fabricated cross member that supports the banana links, I now have dual banana links, they are adjustable on the car pieces that are nice. We modified the car for a one piece drive shaft and learned a lot there and eventually did not go in that direction even after buying a one piece shaft. We raised the car, lowered the car but really made no difference. I got acquainted with a lot of great people on this site and hope to continue to contribute. I have tons of information and knowledge that I have accumulated over the last weeks. I would love to share with anyone interested or help with your project. There are tons of guys on here more knowledgeable than me but my experiences might be more recent and painful. I consider the two issues I was working on with my car to be fixed and I am going seek out information on tires as I go to shows and have discussions with people in the know. I encourage you to give me your input. ..... Oh,,, and one thing I forgot to mention,,,, THERE IS NO TAKE OFF SHUTTER!!!!
Great to hear you smoothed things out!
Way to hang tough.
We knew you could do it.
Yes the low profiles will bring out all the road conditions , no flex on sidewall. Great you got it figured out.
1959chevybr
Well Known Member
To everyone that took the time to send me advice, pictures, documents or comments thank you so much.. When I was working for a living they used to call me bull dog as I would never let go of a problem until fixed. This bull dog was almost at the point of letting go, all the encouragement helped tremendously. Time is the most valuable thing in life, I thank all of you for giving to me, some of yours. For the most of the last weeks it has been on the lift as you see in the first picture, today it was in its rightful place on the ground.
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1959chevybr
Well Known Member
I have worked on cars as a hobby for more years than I want to admit. I have never had a brake drum bad enough to cause me a problem that I realized. Maybe some of my cars could have been smoother had I been aware but this is a first for me. I had 4 drums in my possession before taking one back, two were "big time bad" but all 4, two originals and 2 purchased had room for improvement balance wise. If you had seen either of the 2 really bad ones running on the lift at 60 MPH (with just the drums on), we took duck tape and taped up all the loose parts on the lift to prevent them from rattling so we could hear where vibration noises were coming from the car. Serious, especially the rollers on the lift ramps. The simplicity of checking the balance of a drum on a bubble balancer is just so easy. Next time I will know.