[Ragtop Man]

With Arrowhead out of the picture, and no new vendor stepping up, it's looking like it's time to track down a set of used 8-lugs.

I know they can be cleaned and zyglowed for cracks, but, what about the liner? Talking to a few guys at TriPower, it seemed like that was the big bugaboo; virtually everything else can be restored or fixed.

As always, appreciate the feedback.

[63gpman]

I am no expert, but was told and tried running my hand on the lining to see if there was any distortion in the lining suggesting separation/corrosion between the steel and aluminum prior to having them turned. I checked out one set locally and found there to be distortion so I passed and am using rallys.

[61 389-348]

I had understood that they are back in the picture?

http://www.arrowheadcomponentsinc.com/

[Deadhead]

Yes. You can see crazing on the lining. Maybe not in every single case, but it may not have an effect on the feel of the braking without it.

[Heybuck]

My experiance with them (and I was just about pulling my hair out in the end), is you will see discolouration in the metal.

The liner develops rust between the liner and the alloy. The rust acts as an insulator so the heat developing as the drum gets hot cannot evenly disperse. The affected areas show up as a duller colour that the areas which still have excellent direct contact (read - no rust) between the liner and the alloy outer.

When I started down the 8-lug journey I had NO IDEA about any of this. Spent a lot of hooch getting the drums I bought sandblasted, polished up and painted in the required places. Fitted everything up and the car looked brilliant. Took it out on the road and it was fine for the first few short brake applications. Then I have a long shallow downhill section to drive down and within a moment of applying the brakes I start getting the "death shudder". Man, I thought the car was going to shake to pieces.

Eventually got in touch with Roger Rabbit - whatever his real name was?? - in New York. He told me to look for the discolouration and if that was there, that was my problem. His explanation and it sounds feasible to me was that as the drum heats up, the heat from the unaffected area of the liner is trying to expand the liner. Because the affected area cannot disappate the heat out into the alloy, it in fact expands faster than the unaffected part thus creating the whole drum to go slightly out of round and so then making the brakes shudder.

If I was to give you my BEST advice, I'd say to forget the whole idea of retro fitting 8-lugs but who am I to give such advice? Hell, I don't listen to it myself.

I perservered and eventually bought a pair of front drums from Arrowhead. Even those were very disappointing initially. They made such a beautiful job of the casting but supplied them without turning them true. For some reason that was the purchasers responsibility???? One drum he supplied was so far out of round it had to be turned out something like 60thou which effectively is the maximum allowable. That plus the fact you had to press your own bolts into the new drum left a bitter taste for some time. But in the end it all worked out very well and I have had quite a few years and a lot of miles with no issues at all.

Ron, I suppose if I were to give you any advice at all it would be to say to hold off till the Arrowhead drums come back on line. Buy them NEW. But make sure they have enough meat in the right spots to allow for initial turning without having to cut them to the wear limit

Good luck with them

Ian

[justakidagain]

I have a set of fairly new arrowhead short fin front drums for sale listed in parts for sale'