To follow up with my own post, I decided to take leap and buy 4 of these drums and take my chances. They do, in fact, measure in at 9.060" brand new, which puts them .060" over factory M38 size. As Wes mentioned earlier in this thread, they are not listed for use on anything older than 55. Since these are brand new and measure 9.060", you will not be able to use factory thickness replacement shoe liners for an M38 and will need to either shim the liners out to match the ID of the new drums, or use oversize thickness liners.snake138 wrote:I'm also considering these drums for my M38. RockAuto actually has them listed for only $19.02 each right now, without shipping.
Any update on your experiences? I'm curious to know how it went adjusting the shoes. My only concern is that RockAuto, as well as Brake Parts Inc. shows their Nominal Diameter as 9.060", which means that brand new, these drums are already at the Maximum diameter recommended for our brakes.
I'm worried that I won't be able to adjust the shoes correctly, or that if I can adjust them, they'll wear prematurely as the shoes will not be contacting with their full surface.
I've found a guy on a CJ2a forum who said he used these drums on an M38. He mentioned everything that's already been discussed here: the countersink's not being deep enough and the lack of the slit for the feeler gages for adjusting the shoes correctly. He mentioned that he used the "resistance" method of adjusting his shoes, which I'm concerned might give a false sense of correct contact if the drums are indeed cut to 9.060".
As suggested by Tom in another post about oversize brake liners, I made a call to "Then and Now" in Weymouth, Massachusetts, just south of Boston, and at the time of this post, they do still offer oversize thickness brake liners, although they no longer do them in house.
THEN AND NOW AUTOMOTIVE
447 Washington St Weymouth Ma 02188
oldpartstom@aol.com
www.then-now.com OR email: our1932@aol.com
http://willysmjeeps.com/v2/modules.php? ... ic&t=6251&
