Wilwood Parking/Emergency Brake Issue

[Blwalker105]

Went to adjust the parking brakes yesterday on my 4-piston rear Wilwoods, only to find that the drums are both pretty out-of-round. When the handle is adjusted to 7-9 clicks, the hub is alternately free and then at 180 degrees rotation was so tight it required a 3' piece of wood between the studs to turn it. Well, actually, one side required only a 1' lever but neither is correct. And yes, the rotors were torqued to spec and showed less than .002" lateral runout. Not really worth the hassle to send back, but still a $40 trip to the brake shop to make it right.

[Blwalker105]

BTW, these are brand new with the hub-centric adapters in place.

[DaveS53]

Have you checked the radial runout of the axle end or the wheel mounting bolts? I suppose that the brake shop will locate on the center hole in the drum and then you'll know if the problem is an out of round or concentricity problem. The drum could be round, but not concentric to the locating hole.

[Blwalker105]

I agree, Dave. Regarding the hub's runout, it is non-existentent. At the very outer edge of the rotor's diameter, the lateral runout was 0.0015". I'll give the brake shop a try, tomorrow.

[SixStar]

Mine are the same way. I just adjusted them to the point where the car will not roll and they rub slightly. They've gotten better over the past few years but they for sure don't hold the car like the factory steel drums.

[Blwalker105]

Wow, how times change! Went to 2 O'Reilly's, a Mienicke shop and a Napa trying to find a brake drum lathe. They all looked at me like I had a third eye. Apparently, since drums have become a thing of the past and it's way cheaper to just buy new stuff, these once-plentiful devices have seemingly gone by the wayside. Time to find a big rig shop tomorrow.

[phil1734]

Try and find a place that will still resurface a flywheel for one of them "manual" transmissions. :D

[Hindsight2.0]

Try and find a place that will still resurface a flywheel for one of them "manual" transmissions. :D

I had to do that a few years ago and it was a CHALLENGE. There is like one shop in the whole city that does it.