Chevy & GMC Vans

With the paint job, I'm most certainly past the $30k threshold. Yup, another great investment by businessman par excellence Petey.


Ok, on to the show...




The drums are much deeper than the ones I got with my custom rear end. Not a problem, they fit like a glove. But.....





The centers of the new drums are larger, meaning that the drum cannot center itself on the axle flange. You're not supposed to depend uniquely on the studs to center either the wheel or drum. Which is why we use hub rings...






This ring fills the space between the larger drum center hole & the axle hub.


It fit like a glove, by the way.





Pic of the ring on the axle flange





Pic of the ring on, the drum on and the stiffener plate on





And that's that. Brakes work great, no more vibes on hard acceleration. Truck interior is back together. Only problem is that I didn't have a Ford 9" 3rd member gasket and used silicone as recommended by my diffy shop, against my better judgment. Well, the damn thing leaks. So I'll have to yank the freaking diff yet again next week and install a gasket as god intended for it to be in the first place ](*,) ](*,)

are those the LTD-II drums?

Not sure, I think so. I told the parts guy that you had found me some 5 on 5" drums for a Ford 9", so he started looking in his spec book and came up with these. Thanx again, Robo, I'd never have thought of looking for off-the-shelf drums to fit my application. =D>

Ha-Ha! =D>

But seriously Petey, the hub centric rings are interesting and I didn't even know they existed. I've owned several 4x4s with custom rims that didn't use them and I never felt I needed them. My Super Duty truck is the first vehicle I've owned where I've actually been aware it used the center hub as an alignment tool, although I suspect many aftermarket wheels for this truck don't use it.

You are my hero, if for no other reason than the way you find nifty stuff to spend your money on![/quote]


I had never known they existed either 'till we had installed a set of aftermarket rims/tires on my sis's Mini-Cooper. She had an ever-so-slight shimmy/vibe at highway speeds. The shop who sold her the rims later apologized for not having included concentric hub rings. When she brought the rings over for me to install, I chuckled at her. I had taken care to center the aftermarket rims on all four lugnuts perfectly before tightening down. Yeah, like these flimsy PLASTIC rinkydink rings was gonna do anything.
Lo & behold, though, after installing the hub rings, the vibe was gone. I've known for a long time that a rim should always be centered on the hub and not on the studs, but I never thought it made THAT much of a difference. I know better now...

I have pics.... of the NEW Smurf-BLUE paintjob, and matching Tramper, and they looked great......! [/img]