[Healeys] Brake Drum balance -- was Wire Wheel Balancer

Wed May 17 20:55:05 MDT 2023

With all this noise about balancing brake drums I thought I had better take
a look at the ones on my BN2.
I'm in the process if machining them back to  balance now.
Bit of a task on my 12" lathe but it's happening.

On Wed., May 17, 2023, 8:46 p.m. Michael MacLean via Healeys, <
healeys at autox.team.net> wrote:

> Don't grind it. Have it machined off.
> Mike MacLean
>
> On Wed, May 17, 2023, 6:58 AM Richard Kahn <tahoehealey at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hendrix welded more material to my drums as needed and it seems to have
>> worked fine. I would not like grinding off material as it might affect the
>> integrity of the drum by making it thinner, effecting the heat distribution
>> and strength.  Just some rambling from someone who doesn't know what he is
>> talking about.
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> *From:* Healeys <healeys-bounces at autox.team.net> on behalf of
>> alfuller194 at gmail.com <alfuller194 at gmail.com>
>> *Sent:* Wednesday, May 17, 2023 12:23 AM
>> *To:* 'Michael MacLean' <springer.mike51 at gmail.com>
>> *Cc:* 'Healey List' <healeys at autox.team.net>
>> *Subject:* Re: [Healeys] Brake Drum balance -- was Wire Wheel Balancer
>>
>>
>> Mike – I would think that would be the likely explanation for having
>> sections of the drum rim machined off.
>>
>>
>>
>> ----------------
>>
>> All the best,
>>
>>
>>
>> Al Fuller
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Michael MacLean <springer.mike51 at gmail.com>
>> *Sent:* Tuesday, May 16, 2023 2:47 PM
>> *To:* alfuller194 at gmail.com
>> *Subject:* Re: [Healeys] Brake Drum balance -- was Wire Wheel Balancer
>>
>>
>>
>> Al, list,
>>
>>      The drums for my BN2 has sections of the raised rim machined off.
>> Does this mean my drums were balanced in the past?
>>
>> Mike MacLean
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, May 16, 2023, 2:30 PM <alfuller194 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Bob:  If you are wondering about brake drum balancing methods, you may be
>> interested in the two methods used on my Healeys.
>>
>>
>>
>> One shop trimmed off the fins as needed to balance the drums, one needing
>> more trimming than the other – but they both came out well.
>>
>>
>>
>> A different shop welded rod material onto my current BJ-8’s drums to
>> balance them. I think these drums were more out of balance than on prior
>> cars. They were careful to call me ahead of the operation to ask how much
>> clearance I had between the wheel and drum, and I was able to take them a
>> wheel and hub so they could see how it all fit together.  The results are
>> just fine, also.
>>
>> ----------------
>>
>> All the best,
>>
>>
>>
>> Al Fuller
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Healeys <healeys-bounces at autox.team.net> *On Behalf Of *Bob
>> Haskell via Healeys
>> *Sent:* Monday, May 15, 2023 2:36 PM
>> *To:* Harold Manifold <manifold at telus.net>; Healey List <
>> healeys at autox.team.net>
>> *Subject:* Re: [Healeys] Wire Wheel Balancer
>>
>>
>>
>> Harold,
>>
>> How did you balance the drums - add or remove material? Care to provide
>> any details?
>>
>> Bob Haskell
>>
>> Austin-Healey 3000 roadster registrar
>>
>> On 5/15/23 11:32, Harold Manifold wrote:
>>
>> Another consideration for balancing the rear tires is the brake drums. I
>> have the original BMC brake drums and was surprised at how out of balance
>> they were. I static balanced the brake drums to go with the
>> separately balanced wheels and tires. No vibrations, shimmies or skuttle
>> shakes so far.
>>
>>
>>
>> Harold
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, May 15, 2023 at 12:34 AM <greylinn at ozemail.com.au> wrote:
>>
>> Here in Brisbane there’s at least one place (near me) that does on-car
>> balancing. The wheels on my 100 don’t have a central hole, so can’t be
>> balanced on a regular machine. That said, the last set of Khumo Ecowing
>> ES31s I bought are fine with no balancing!
>>
>>
>>
>> Peter Linn
>>
>> Brisbane
>>
>> BN1 Holden V6
>>
>> MG TC special
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Healeys <healeys-bounces at autox.team.net> *On Behalf Of *m.g.sharp---
>> via Healeys
>> *Sent:* Monday, May 15, 2023 1:07 PM
>> *To:* 'Harold Manifold' <manifold at telus.net>; 'HealeyRick' <
>> healeyrik at gmail.com>
>> *Cc:* 'Healeys' <healeys at autox.team.net>
>> *Subject:* Re: [Healeys] Wire Wheel Balancer
>>
>>
>>
>> I made up my own adaptor using a used hub and knock-off (spinner).  I had
>> a machinist mount the hub on the lathe and ensure that it was true on the
>> inside edges (where the bearings fit) and had him put a slight chamfer on
>> the edges to provide better registration for the standard cones on a modern
>> balancer.  Then we machined the centre out of the spinner so  that when the
>> wheel is mounted on the hub and the spinner is tightened, the outer cone on
>> the balancer fits through it and registers on the hub.  That part is a
>> little tricky as if you machine the hole too big, the spinner will end up
>> in two pieces – measure carefully!  Hub and spinner was $25 at a swap meet
>> and machining was $50.  I believe this adaptor will work on any post-war
>> wire wheels except the Jags, which had different hubs.  Worked a treat on
>> my TC wheels.  Healey is running vibration-free- so leaving it alone for
>> now.
>>
>>
>>
>> I too liked on-wheel balancing and in my simple thinking it balanced the
>> drum or disk at the same time – as long as you remembered to mark the
>> position of the wheels when you took them off and did not rotate them (to a
>> different position on the car)!  That is likely one reason  they are not
>> used anymore, because if your drums were out of balance and you added
>> weights to the wheel that balanced them out, then every time you removed
>> the wheel, you’d loose the balance, unless it went back in exactly the same
>> position.   Anyhow it’s a moot point as I have not seen an on-wheel
>> balancer for decades.   I imagine that disks run very true anyhow, but when
>> I balanced the drums on the TC  they were significantly off.  I hear
>> balancing Healey drums brings good results, but never felt the need as my
>> BT7 has always run pretty smooth.  If anyone in Ontario (Canada) wants
>> drums balanced, Garland and Sons in Scarborough did great work for me.
>>
>>
>>
>> Mirek
>>
>>
>>
>> *From:* Healeys <healeys-bounces at autox.team.net> *On Behalf Of *Harold
>> Manifold
>> *Sent:* Thursday, May 11, 2023 11:35 AM
>> *To:* HealeyRick <healeyrik at gmail.com>
>> *Cc:* Healeys <healeys at autox.team.net>
>> *Subject:* Re: [Healeys] Wire Wheel Balancer
>>
>>
>>
>> It looks like the kit is designed to follow the Dunlop/MWS
>> recommendations for balancing. See attached. It should be a good piece of
>> kit.
>>
>>
>>
>> Harold
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, May 11, 2023 at 8:28 AM HealeyRick via Healeys <
>> healeys at autox.team.net> wrote:
>>
>> AH Spares just sent out this email about a wire wheel balancer kit to
>> mount the wheels on a modern balancing machine.  What are your thoughts?
>> https://www.ahspares.co.uk/austin-healey/big-healey/wheels/wire-wheel-balancing-kit.aspx?utm_medium=email-1st&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email
>>
>>
>>
>> Rick Neville aka "HealeyRick"
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
>> Suggested annual donation  $12.75
>>
>> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/healeys
>> http://autox.team.net/archive/healeys
>>
>> Healeys at autox.team.net
>> http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/healeys
>>
>> Unsubscribe/Manage:
>> http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/healeys/manifold@telus.net
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
>>
>> Suggested annual donation  $12.75
>>
>>
>>
>> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/healeys http://autox.team.net/archive/healeys
>>
>>
>>
>> Healeys at autox.team.net
>>
>> http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/healeys
>>
>>
>>
>> Unsubscribe/Manage: http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/healeys/rchaskell@earthlink.net
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
>> Suggested annual donation  $12.75
>>
>> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/healeys
>> http://autox.team.net/archive/healeys
>>
>> Healeys at autox.team.net
>> http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/healeys
>>
>> Unsubscribe/Manage:
>> http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/healeys/springer.mike51@gmail.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
> Support Team.Net http://www.team.net/donate.html
> Suggested annual donation  $12.75
>
> Archive: http://www.team.net/pipermail/healeys
> http://autox.team.net/archive/healeys
>
> Healeys at autox.team.net
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/listinfo/healeys
>
> Unsubscribe/Manage:
> http://autox.team.net/mailman/options/healeys/michaelsalter@gmail.com
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://autox.team.net/pipermail/healeys/attachments/20230517/20aa0f06/attachment.htm>