If one were to build a drum brake

themotoworks

Been Around the Block
What would they use for the liner? Cast iron? Could you just find a large enough pipe and machine to size? Asking for a friend...
 
Any hard / wear resistant steel (ideally stainless) should do. They don't make rotors from cast iron any more because they have other alloys that work just as well and are easier to work with. No reason for drum brakes to be any different.

Rather than pipe, an easy (relatively speaking) approach might be to find an existing drum brake that is bigger / thicker walled than you need, and machine it down.
 
Stainless depending on grade. Machining from billet could be costly. Take a newer drum to a metal testing lab. They .ca tell you hardness, resilience to wear, tourque and twist resistance , match that, the big question is stuff I build one?

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Which ever way it's done it's unlikely to be cheaper than buying a ready made one.(unless it's the $7,000 TZD 350?) Piece of cast iron would probably be best bet though, steel and stainless steel will probably glaze over too easy if your using hard compound linings., unlike disk brakes you may not be able to get a compound compatible with steel liner? I've thought about making a 4 leading shoe brake multiple times. Use a 'finned' automotive rear drum for liner and cast aluminium around it. (obviously after machining out 'rings' and thinning close to finished size) It should also be possible to fabricate a hub using this method if you alloy welding is good enough. The main issue is making brake plates, shoes shouldn't be so much of an issue.
 
I just read that the famed Allen Millyard used a liner from a 1970s Vauxhall Chevette (small European GM car) to get the required 200mm internal bore he needed for his Honda TT replica and parted it in a lathe to the correct width. It was shrunk into place IIRC
 
I would think there are plenty of oldfer cars and small trucks with rear drum brakes? (I know my Mazda/Ford Ranger has them)The hub is probably the easy part, making brake plates and shoes looks more difficult? If I was making a dual sided TLS I would want something 'BIG', 200mm minimum
 
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