Can I reuse these old drums?

[JR_Charger]

My plan is to convert to discs ASAP, but I was going to buy new drums anyway because things often take longer than planned, and temporary tends to become semi-permanent. But, when I went to unswedge these drums to recover my wheel hubs, I noticed the hole saw overhung the swedges by quite a bit and would be taking material from the drums as well. Maybe I should think twice and ask before ruining the old drums?

I took these drums to O'Reilly's to have them turned down, but they said it had already been done and there wasn't enough material left.

When I last drove the car, the braking power was reasonable. Now it has new shoes, so I don't think there will be an issue with the shoe failing to make contact with the drum. That's my reasoning anyway. I'm sure there's a spec for how worn down a drum can be before it's no good.

I assume I can sand this surface rust down. There may or may not be some pitting underneath.

The thing that worries me the most is that I cracked and chipped the edge of one drum while trying to break it loose from an old shoe. I've been told not to let it concern me, but I'm going to double check just to be sure.

 

[wahya]

Well this is my temporary that I’ve been riding around for about eight years now. The brakes on my parts car looked like they were fairly new (drums turned apparently), so I put them on in place of mine. There are not any places around here that turn drums. The chip on mine does not seem to bother anything, don’t know about that crack( and creeping crud) on your pic.

 

[JR_Charger]

Yeah, "if I knew then what I know now." But learning is part of it, and you often break something!

 

[beanhead]

The rust *could* likely be machined out, but after seeing the last two pics in your post....I don't know why you'd even consider it. Don't be cheap especially when it comes to your safety. Just do it right. The internet "just run it" guys won't be the ones fixing your car or retrieving your body parts out of it after a brake failure....

 

[Don Frelier]

I wouldn't worry about the rust at all.
The shoes will take that off pretty quickly.
Rotors rust overnight.

The chip isn't a huge concern either.
But the crack could get larger that would be bad.

 

[QuickBpBp]

Clean them up and run them. Keep an eye on the crack. Nothing I see otherwise will interfere with brake shoe contact. Also when turning them it's never about the contact unless they are warped. It's when they are turned too much it's about them heating up, cracking and brake fade cause the thinner they get the hotter they run and could fail.

 

[JR_Charger]

The rust *could* likely be machined out, but after seeing the last two pics in your post....I don't know why you'd even consider it. Don't be cheap especially when it comes to your safety. Just do it right. The internet "just run it" guys won't be the ones fixing your car or retrieving your body parts out of it after a brake failure....

It's possible that the car never even sees the road with drums. It would help if I could move it around though. I've had it on jack stands for 4 years and it sat for twenty before that. Really wish I'd parked it facing the other direction so I could pull the motor.

 

[Don Frelier]

It's possible that the car never even sees the road with drums. It would help if I could move it around though. I've had it on jack stands for 4 years and it sat for twenty before that. Really wish I'd parked it facing the other direction so I could pull the motor.

Well you can certainly move it around with those.
I would drive it with those but I do a lot of things others don't.

 

[beanhead]

It's possible that the car never even sees the road with drums. It would help if I could move it around though. I've had it on jack stands for 4 years and it sat for twenty before that. Really wish I'd parked it facing the other direction so I could pull the motor.

If all you need is to move it around, then absolutely you can use them....as long as they allow the wheels turn!

 

[JR_Charger]

Well guess what - I was installing a speedometer cable a while ago and I had to push some old brake drums out of the way. Old brake drums? Wait, what's the story with these things again? Oh yeah, these were the rears I took off and had turned down, then I decided to buy new replacements. Since I now know the fronts were also 10" and not 11" drums, I could use the new 10" drums in front and the old ones in back. Problem solved.

 

[MoparLeo]

If the brakes are 24 years old, the drums would be last on the things to worry about. What does the brake fluid look like ? Do any of the wheel cylinders leak or even work ? Master cylinder ?

 

[JR_Charger]

If the brakes are 24 years old, the drums would be last on the things to worry about. What does the brake fluid look like ? Do any of the wheel cylinders leak or even work ? Master cylinder ?

All new. I'm missing new front drums because I mistakenly thought the fronts were 11".