9” drum brake retainer clips on assembly line, OEM?

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Plymouth Duster

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Hey guys my 72 duster that I aspire to make a resto mod has been fun so far after tune and typical to do items. Today while adjusting all the brakes I noticed she’s a 9” manual drum which works fine for now with the slant 6 and cruising around town and non traffic late night interstate runs. That’s my peace time.

Question, got all the drums off clean, adjusted, bled and of course when I get to last drum, drivers front it won’t come off. So figure hmm, shoes must be tight so I adjust star wheel to where the drum spins like a free wheel and couple bangs and smacks and nothing.

finally I start inspecting the drum it’s the original Chrysler part number drum which is cool (car has 74,000ish original mile per registrations and title and speaking to original owner and DMV confirmation) and notice the drum retainers on the studs or what appear to be the correct ones are still on each stud something, I haven’t seen in nearly 30 years on an old mopar. Looked at the other drums and none had signs of retainers on drum or any marks on studs. Here are some pics and wondering if these are factory or replacements? Appear factory to me but it’s been decades at least 25 years maybe 30 when I was a kid.

also what is the best way to get them off. Assuming vice grips or pliers and turn/twist off? It was a head turner as the car is driving really good, light pulling here and there but nothing I haven’t been used to or expected with a full manual drum car so I knew it wasn’t seized.

thanks for your help

can’t wait for front discs. Can’t wait for the 4 or tkx 5 speed and whatever 8 I decide most likely a stroker SBM but Gen 3 hemi has perked my interest and been catching my curiosity, to much tv I suppose. The fun is beginning. The searching of parts!

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Not sure what your pics are showing.
These are the only style drum retainer clip I've come across.
Used to cut them off with dyke pliers, then smack the drum with a hammer to loosen it from the frozen axle flange.
Screenshot_20220706-221458_Chrome.jpg
 
The drums on the front are swedged from the factory they were only sold as a service part by Chrysler that way. If you need to separate the drum from the hub the swedge must be cut off first if you try to press out the studs without cutting off the swedge you will F up your hubs. The correct tool to cut them off is no longer available, most people use a 5/8 metal cutting hole saw minus the pilot drill to do the job today. I believe the drums themselves are still available. I thought someone did a how to article on this. Proceed carefully you have been warned.
 
The drums on the front are swedged from the factory they were only sold as a service part by Chrysler that way. If you need to separate the drum from the hub the swedge must be cut off first if you try to press out the studs without cutting off the swedge you will F up your hubs. The correct tool to cut them off is no longer available, most people use a 5/8 metal cutting hole saw minus the pilot drill to do the job today. I believe the drums themselves are still available. I thought someone did a how to article on this. Proceed carefully you have been warned.
If you find that article on removing the Swedge much appreciate. I will research as well. Def want to get that drum off and check the shoes and cylinder. Can’t imagine it’s been on for 50 years and not leaking. But 200 miles so far and master hasn’t gone down a millimeter so maybe I’m lucky but peace of mind want it apart, cleaned adjusted and lube/grease the rub spots for shoes
 
Not sure what your pics are showing.
These are the only style drum retainer clip I've come across.
Used to cut them off with dyke pliers, then smack the drum with a hammer to loosen it from the frozen axle flange.
View attachment 1715952449
Yea appears the pics aren’t clear. Here is a clearer one of the piece holding the drums onto the studs on only the front left wheel/drum

wont let me zoom in and upload pics. But if u zoom in you can see little round clips almost look like splines thin washers
 
BFH and loose starwheel failures till I saw these little critters. Any idea what they are and how to remove
Thanks guys

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Guys and gals, assuming without removing the swaged studs. Remove hub to clean and adjust. I just want to ensure wheel cylinder is ok. Was stopping ok for manual 9” drums. If not able to remove them I’m going to finish bleeding and flushing and adjust the brakes again and slap tires back on till I’m ready for disc upgrade.
 
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Not sure what your pics are showing.
These are the only style drum retainer clip I've come across.
Used to cut them off with dyke pliers, then smack the drum with a hammer to loosen it from the frozen axle flange.
View attachment 1715952449
Yea Joey that’s what I remember from when these cars were still 10-20 year old cars, even my a body Oldsmobile had a similar setup if I recall, and they were used during the assembly line to keep drums on while in rotation on line before final drum/brake adjustment

these clips look like little flat serrated washers maybe 20-30 thousands thick with a serrated or splined edge/perimeter. If u look close u can see them tight against the drum and where the stud comes through. Three of my drums have been replaced with century generic 9” drums with a max diameter of 9.060 and the left driver drum is a factory Chrysler part number drum with a 9.090 max diameter and the stock appearing swaged studs, or what I believe to be. Never dealt or done this before so any help is appreciated. Hate asking so many questions but I wish we had sites like this 20-30 years ago. Back then it was calls across country that we paid by the minute and it got expensive at 5-10 cents a minute lol

if it’s to much hassle I will adjust her via rear opening to starwheel to have even drag with pass drum, rears are perfect I’ve adjust them twice for good measure, will re bleed entire system as I want to make sure all the old 10-15 or more year old dot3/4 mixture is flushed with the new dot 4 I have. Did a quick flush a few weeks ago but being in a Rush I think the lines were still contaminated slightly so going to rebleed and flush with a new 32oz bottle of Lucas dot 4 I just picked up. Plus going to flush the power steering again for peace of mind have gallons of PS fluid and semi retirement give me time to play. Again they stop pretty good for a 9” manual car and growing up on these cars I’m aware how drums work, theirs never ending clean and adjust every rotation or oil change (that’s how I was taught) and brake fading, and the shell shock that new drivers have when they drove disc and antilock brakes all their lives. I saw it first hand when I let my nephew drive my old 70 superbee with 10” drums. Poor kid thought he had no brakes. “Unc/me goes that’s why you have a stick and a third peedle lol”. I don’t want to replace shoes (plenty of meat, minus drivers front which I hadn’t seen so can’t attest to) or drums now as I will be upgrading to disc sometime during this resto mod future. Not sure if it’s months from now or over a year. Pending when I fix some rust and do the 8 3/4” rear end, k frame, engine and 4 speed swap
 
You GOTTA get that drum off!

I tell ya, its humbling, I have been working on cars, on the street and eventually attended auto trade school after high school, then as a full time mechanic in a shop since around 1980.
I have never, ever seen or dealt with this elusive "swedge".
(Must have been asleep in Brakes class that day.) Lol
Goes to show, Never to old to learn!
Thanks,
Joe

PS. Found this thread, here, from 2018, the same guys with the wealth of info. (Looks like the tool is currently backordered, I can see the 5/8 holesaw @bcschief mentioned, doing the trick).
Aint FABO the best!!

disc brake wheel stud swedge tool

Screenshot_20220707-020646_Chrome.jpg
 
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You GOTTA get that drum off!

I tell ya, its humbling, I have been working on cars, on the street and eventually attended auto trade school after high school, then as a full time mechanic in a shop since around 1980.
I have never, ever seen or dealt with this elusive "swedge".
(Must have been asleep in Brakes class that day.) Lol
Goes to show, Never to old to learn!
Thanks,
Joe

PS. Found this thread, here, from 2018, the same guys with the wealth of info. (Looks like the tool is currently backordered, I can see the 5/8 holesaw @bcschief mentioned, doing the trick).
Aint FABO the best!!

disc brake wheel stud swedge tool

View attachment 1715952491
Thank you brotha man and YES I KNOW I GOTTA GET THAT DRUM OFF!!! Lol

I was a young mechanic before going in the service/DOD and then LE municipal. So my days in 90s as a mechanic/tech at small garages and monro and midis, I did a few brakes jobs and drums back then and I also have never seen swaged drums. And I’ve owned or parted more then 50-60 gm mostly olds a bodies cutlass/sadly 442s, rallyes and W machines and several Chryslers and pulling hubs off for customers or to scrap I’ve seen seen It either, just my luck on my car as a retired dude!!!!!

I’ll work on it tomorrow, if not disc kit coming sooner!!!

Yes FABO is amazing!!!!!
 
If you want to take the drum off just remove the dust cap and hardware no? Take the drum and hub off as an assembly. Why do you need to remove the drum from the hub? Machining it or replacing it?
 
Thank you brotha man and YES I KNOW I GOTTA GET THAT DRUM OFF!!! Lol

I was a young mechanic before going in the service/DOD and then LE municipal. So my days in 90s as a mechanic/tech at small garages and monro and midis, I did a few brakes jobs and drums back then and I also have never seen swaged drums. And I’ve owned or parted more then 50-60 gm mostly olds a bodies cutlass/sadly 442s, rallyes and W machines and several Chryslers and pulling hubs off for customers or to scrap I’ve seen seen It either, just my luck on my car as a retired dude!!!!!

I’ll work on it tomorrow, if not disc kit coming sooner!!!

Yes FABO is amazing!!!!!


From what I've read here it sounds like one front drum came off and one didn't. You pictured the swaged studs on the one that won't come apart it appears. Can you show us what the side that came apart looks like? Just curious is all. Like the guys said, pop the hub nut cap, pull the cotter key, spin off the nut and pull off the drum and hub assembly. You can get in there to clean and inspect. You might need to clean and repack those wheel bearings that you won't see if you just pull the drum only.
 
From what I've read here it sounds like one front drum came off and one didn't. You pictured the swaged studs on the one that won't come apart it appears. Can you show us what the side that came apart looks like? Just curious is all. Like the guys said, pop the hub nut cap, pull the cotter key, spin off the nut and pull off the drum and hub assembly. You can get in there to clean and inspect. You might need to clean and repack those wheel bearings that you won't see if you just pull the drum only.
Mike that’s whT I’ll be doing. The other is an aftermarket drum and not swaged, it’s going to be upgraded to disc one day in the next year or so, so rather not waste time and money or worry if I drill to see that I will ruin the hole for the stud to press fit on
 
Sounds like you are confusing things.
If you just want to remove the drum to inspect shoes, brake cylinder, and hardware; then remove the dust cap, cotter pin, stamped retainer, nut, washer, outer bearing and carefully slide the drum off. Be careful not to damage the inner grease seal. The drum comes off with the hub attached. No reason to worry about swedging anything. If the drum needs turning, it is done with the hub in place. Good time to repack the bearings and set preload.

Sounds like the other side has had the drum replaced in the last 50 yrs and the stud swedging was cut away. That drum could be removed leaving the hub on the spindle.

Now, if the drum is unusable and needs replacing, then most likely the swedging around each stud must be cut away and the hub and drum can be separated.

The clips shown in post #2 were only used to retain the drums on the car as it moved down the assembly line without wheels/tires. No reason to use them unless you are doing a true 100 point restoration. BTW, only 2 were used per drum, not 5.
 
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Sounds like you are confusing things.
If you just want to remove the drum to inspect shoes, brake cylinder, and hardware; then remove the dust cap, cotter pin, stamped retainer, nut, washer, outer bearing and carefully slide the drum off. Be careful not to damage the inner grease seal. The drum comes off with the hub attached. No reason to worry about swedging anything. If the drum needs turning, it is done with the hub in place. Good time to repack the bearings and set preload.

Sounds like the other side has had the drum replaced in the last 50 yrs and the stud swedging was cut away. That drum could be removed leaving the hub on the spindle.

Now, if the drum is unusable and needs replacing, then most likely the swedging around each stud must be cut away and the hub and drum can be separated.

The clips shown in post #2 were only used to retain the drums on the car as it moved down the assembly line without wheels/tires. No reason to use them unless you are doing a true 100 point restoration. BTW, only 2 were used per drum, not 5.


Thanks kosmic. I actually did that other day and nice to see it was done recently minus the wheel cylinder may replace. The bearing were good and I repacked it all, cleaned the drums and shoes, adjusted it and reinstalled. Working good enough for a slant with 9” drums. No sense in new shoes or drums since I will be updating to disc soon. Looking for complete Kelsey hayes small pattern or might go 73 up or aftermarket. Undecided
 
Working good enough for a slant with 9” drums. No sense in new shoes or drums since I will be updating to disc soon. Looking for complete Kelsey hayes small pattern or might go 73 up or aftermarket. Undecided

One thing to consider changing to BBP is that it's not just the brakes. You must source wheels and probably tires too. Yeah wheel selection is better with BBP but once you are committed, there's no going back.

I went BBP on my 68 cuda using 73-75 style front discs and shortened C-body axles and 10" X 2-1/2" drums in rear. Basically, B-body brakes on an A-body.

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Ha! I still have 9" front drums and 10" X 1-3/4" on the rear of my 64 Valiant. All SBP. My original brakes had early funky shoe retainer clips that I couldn't find anywhere so I changed to the later coil spring type. I started to have an issue with the rear brakes overheating. Probably caused by the conversion to a 67 dual master cylinder. I changed to an adjustable pushrod and then someone on here was selling rear 10" backing plates for a 7-1/4" reaf end so I bought them and converted.

When I finished the bottom of this car, I added a Wilwood adjustable proportioning valve in the rear lines because EVERYTHING was new. I do not run any other metering or safety switch. With the adjustable valve I am set up for just about any front brake when I go disc in front. V-8 T-bars with a /6 but still too soft so Im going to swap in the .92 bars and 16:1 manual box from the 68. Sounds like I'm gradually moving toward a Formula S Valiant.
 
With front disc brakes the rear brakes only do about 20% of the braking so up grading them is not near as important as the front. I would even go so far as to say 11-inch rear brakes are an over kill on an A body. Hell my 86-ford ranger 4X4 has 9-inch brakes on the rear.
 
Remember do not throw the old stuff away someone else may need it.
Oh I’m keeping all the 9” hubs. I saw a pair sell for more then I care to mention as they aren’t really around anymore even at pick apart yards and soooo many were thrown away or scraped.
I think they stopped making the hubs in the 90s maybe sooner
 
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