Chapter 11

Brake Drums And Rotors

Brake Drum Construction

Drum Web - closed edge of the drum that contains the holes that allow the drum to be mounted. To improve Cooling Axial Fins Perpendicular to the axle -common on large truck brakes Radial cooling fins - raised ridges cast parallel to the axle. Some drums have a damping spring to quiet vibrations that would be amplified as a brake squeal.

Solid Drums
Made entirely from gray cast iron. They are heavy and can absorb a great deal of heat before they suffer mechanical fade. Low cost, excellent wear characteristics. Cast iron is soft but the heat from braking hardens the metal to create a wear resistant skin for the friction surface. It also has a high coefficient of friction compared to other metals.

Solid Drums
It also has free graphite particles that act as a lubricant between the drum and the linings. These particles reduce drum wear. Problems - brittle and will crack if over stressed. Hard to see cracks. In late model cars the heavy drums affect fuel economy.

Composite Drums
Made of two metals joined together. All composite drums have cast iron friction surfaces. Steel and iron composites - sheet steel web with cast iron drum Stamped Steel outer drum with a cast iron liner - also called a centrifugal cast brake drum because of the way the molten iron is poured into the stamped steel and spun. Creates good heat transfer

Composite Drums
Benefits - less expensive, less weight Drawbacks - less able to absorb heat.

Composite Drums
Aluminum and Iron composite drums - cast aluminum outer drum with a cast iron lining. Called a Bimetallic drum. The aluminum is formed around the cast iron lining. Benefits - less weight, conducts heat four times faster than iron- cools better Drawbacks - costly.

Brake Rotor Construction

All production automobile rotors are cast as one piece from gray cast iron because of the low cost, good wear and friction and ease of machining. On some rotors the hub assembly containing the wheel bearings is cast into the center of the rotor.

Solid & Vented Rotors

Solid brake rotors have there friction surfaces on opposite sides of a solid piece of metal. They do not cool as well as vented rotors and are usually found on lighter applications. Vented rotors have radial cooling passages between its friction surfaces.
Vented rotors can be balanced at the factory and these weights should not be removed from the cooling fins.

Solid & Vented Rotors

Uni directional vented rotors are designed as specific left and right hand models. The fins should be facing rearward at the top of the rotor. Drilled rotors do not significantly increase brake cooling

Drum and Rotor Mounting

Fixed - cast as one piece with the hub assembly containing the wheel bearings. Mainly used on non- driven axles. Floating - all floating drums and rotors are held in place by the wheel and lug nuts
They are less expensive and easy to service, they have less heat transfer to the bearings. May be held on with speed nuts (tinnerman nuts)

Drum Wear
Drum taper wear - the closed edge of the drum fiction surface wears more than the open edge. Caused by the excessive application force and heat of repeated heavy braking.
These factors cause the open end to expand leaving the inner closed end to work against the friction area. Brake dust dirt and grit also contribute to taper wear. Causes low brake pedal - needs to travel more.

Drum Wear
Drum Barrel Wear - the center of the friction surface is warn more than the ends.
Caused by the web of the shoe transmitting more force to the center of the drum than the outer edges. It does not present any operating hazards and has no obvious symptoms to the driver.

Worn Drums

Scored Bell Mouthed Concaved or Barrel Shape

Rotor Wear
Taper Variation. - A difference of thickness from the outer edges to the inner edges of the friction surface. most rotors wear more on the outer edge than the inner edge. Inner edge wear is called a dished rotor.

Brake Drum and Rotor Damage

Scoring - extreme wear on a drum or rotor friction surface.
Scoring is often caused by metal to metal contact or foreign materials between the linings and friction surface.

Cracking - caused by severe braking or impact.

drums around the bolt hole or the outer edge rotors usually on the outer edge If it's cracked replace it.

Check for a scored rotor

Heat damage
Cracks burned spots

Drum & Rotor Distortion

Drum
Bellmouth fig. 11-22 Out of round fig. 11-23 Eccentric fig. 11-24

Rotor
Lateral run out fig. 11-26 Lack of parallelism fig. 11-27

Measuring Rotors
Minimum thickness
often cast or stamped on the rotor allow 0.015 to 0.030 for wear

Lateral run out

usual specifications range from 0.002 to 0.005 tighten the wheel bearing if hub-type rotor install lug nuts if hubless-type rotor use dial indicator to measure run out as you rotate the rotor

(continues)

Measuring Rotors
Rotor thickness variation - also called
parallelism

Measure the thickness of the rotor using a micrometer

measure at 4 to 8 locations around the rotor all measurements should be within 0.0005
(1/2 of a thousandth of an inch)

Causes brake pedal pulsation if not within specifications

Drum and Rotor Limits

Drum discard diameter the largest inside diameter a drum can safely operate. Drum maximum diameter machining limit. Leaves .030 for wear. Rotor discard dimension the thinnest width at which a rotor can safely operate. Rotor minimum thickness the thinnest dimension a rotor can be turned and still leave .015 - .030 for safe service.

Special Considerations
Drums on the same axle should be machined within .010 - .020 of each other. Rotors with fixed calipers should have the same amount of metal removed on each side. Semi metallic pads need a smoother non directional finish for proper operation.