Thoughts on brake drums ?

Yup. And brakes are not the place to try and save money . Do it right , do it all .

You'll thank yourself later when the DOT is under your truck doing a cam rotation and your parked because your drums are oversized.

 

One of our cars are approaching 110K with the associated braking hardware. It would be almost time to replace them.

Pads and such are cheap, we should go and do it.

 

I like brake drums, would never drive without them.

 

I'm not the guy that the easy (cheap) out and maybe your operation is different than mine but drums are reusable for several sets of shoes all while being DOT legal and safe

 

Doing it right doesn’t mean wasting money. That’s like saying the only right way to do a clutch is to replace the transmission. Do it right.. Do it all

 

True, but it would be like replacing clutch and not resurfacing flywheel.

 

Not really. Resurfacing the flywheel is recommended practices for doing a clutch. Replacing drums is not.

 

Turning drums used to be recommended practice in past, but no one does that hardly anymore. If you have an accurate drum micrometer and it measures well within spec for diameter and out of roundness with no cracks, then by all means re-use your drums. I use same philosophy as @swaan on brake repairs.

 

I don’t know anyone who turns drums on a semi truck. If you don’t have excessive cracks or ridges they get reused. Drums are far more resilient than that. I generally go every other brake change before new drums are called for.

 

Thing is cast drums are not much money so why piss around. Everything is matched up nice and works perfect..
New lining combined with new drums make for a perfect contact point around the circumference.
I always find new lining with old drums the shoes never wear on the ends because the drums are oversized.