Hi,
Recently I picked up a '67 Cutlass 2dr which I thought would be a good project for my stepson. Needs a fair amount of work trunk floors, a little frame work and engine work. Since none of that is problem to do, I decided to start with the brakes. So he has learned how to make up brake lines, put the shoes on, adjust, rebuild cylinders and repack bearings, and have a little fun and a lot more appreciation as to what makes a car work.
Our problem is that one of the front wheel drums needed to be replaced. This car has the "one piece" hub and drum, where the studs are pressed in and hold the drum to the hub. So I figure nothing unusual here, we'll press the old studs out and then press the new ones and new drum together with the hub. Well, I picked up new studs by the NAPA parts listing, but the new studs drop through the hub hole freely. So I examined the original studs closely, it appears they were "upset" or swaged in place originally. The diameter of the knurl near the head of the stud matches the diameter of the new stud, but the diameter near the threads is approx 0.010" larger and you can see the deformation from the swaging. I had to do this swaging for Model A Ford hubs/studs at one time and I was able to get a swaging tool for the studs (bascially hard bar stock with a hole drilled in one end). Does any one know if there is a source for such a tool for the 7/16" studs? Any other suggestions/experiences with GM hubs, should be the same as GTO, Chevelle, Skylark of the same vintage,
Thanks,
Scott

During my days working in an automotive machine shop, I replaced many a front drum that had to be swaged. The press we used came with a complete set of "Furniture" to handle every different situation one would ever encounter. Since the press was there before I was, I can only assume the hardware came with it. I would call any place that has press' for sale, I'm sure they could help you out.

Don,
Thanks, I suppose that finding such a set up might be hard these days. I would however, love to add something like that to my tool collection.
You don't remember the manufacturer's name do you?
Scott

After working this out my conclusion is that I should have ground the swaged part of the stud off. By pressing the swaged studs out I enlarged the holes in the hub thereby ruining it. I ended up using a Chevelle two peice unit which interchanges sucessfully.
Scott