I have a 1973 f250, 4wd, with a 360. The problem is I have a bad shimmy coming from the front end when I brake. This only showed up after I swapped wheels from an aluminum set, to a steel set (I drove the vehicle the wheels were on before, and know they are good).

When I jacked up the front end, the passenger front wheel (the wheel that seemed to produce the most shaking) seemed to have a bad or warped drum. when I spun it, It had a defenite "inconsistant rubbing", that would make sense right?

But when I got a new drum from the local napa, it turned out to also rub when I spun it. The real problem was they gave me the wrong drum because it hit the backing plate. It was too deep. Upon further investigation, napa dosent seem to have anything that will fit, because the one I had was for the lighter duty 2" wide brake pad, and not the heavy duty 2 1/2" wide brake pad. I apparently definatly had the right one for the job.?

My question is, should I continue to seek out new drums, or does the fact that it still seemed to rub oddly when spun, with the new drum, indicate that maybe it's not the drum, but something else. ??????? help

thanks alot,
Brad

 

maybee the backing plate is bent? i'm sure its possible but ive never had a drum warp.

 

Original wheels were OK, no shimmy.

No problem with the donor vehicle's wheels when you drove it. The front wheels had no shimmy, but what about the rear wheels?

Did you put one of the donor wheels that was on the back of the donor to the front of this vehicle? If you did, that rear wheel which is now on the front could be bent.

1973 F250 4WD Front brake drum sizes: 11 x 2 OR 12 1/8" x 2"

 

but when I am driving down the road, (off the brakes) even at highway speeds, she's smooth as can be....so I image the wheels themselves are fine.....

 

Wheel bearing adjustment?

 

I second this theory, Rotate tires, front to rear and then test drive it. Your problem should be gone.

 

The problem arose after he switched wheels, so the backing plate shouldn't be a problem, and I don't know how one could adjust the wheel bearings. The problem lies with one of those steel wheels. Take the truck to a QUALITY brake shop, better if it's been around for a while. Older brake shops used to have wheel straighteners...and there is your problem, an out of round rear wheel that ended up on the front. A rear wheel that is out of round is tough to isolate till it's rotated to the front.

 

I will try rotating them and will let everyone know how it goes.

Thanks again for the help...

 

There are different depth drums available for these trucks

There are several Online parts house that have application charts for looking up parts
application per vehicle.

FTE users should be aware they can look these parts up themselves before they go to any parts counter.


Try matching your drum part number to one on here.

www.rockauto.com