My55buick Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 Has anyone swapped 55 special over to the two and a half inch aluminum fin drums? I'm looking to daily drive the car and I want as much breaking as possible. My plan is to move the 2 1/4 inch drums from the front and put them on the back and use 2 1/2 inch aluminum drums in the front. Does anybody know what would be involved? I got the drums off of a full size, they are the 90 fin drums. I tried putting them on just to see, and they don't seat far enough back onto the backing plate for me to put bearings in. I'm thinking about using the hubs from my drums in the aluminum housing. But I've read it's easy to crack the aluminum so I don't want to move anything until I'm sure. I also read that 58 hubs work and allow me to run roller bearings, but I can't confirm that. I do have 58 hubs in case. Right now I'm curious if anybody else has already done this. I know the Roadmaster got 2 1/2 front drums in 55 and as far as I know the spindles are the same so there has to be a way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fr. Buick Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 I don't know about aluminum drums on the rear, but you will get bigger brakes if you swap stock assemblies from a Century, Super or Roadmaster. I did do aluminum 45-fin drums on the front of my 54 Super. I used stock Roadmaster backing plate and shoes, and my stock hubs and bearings easily worked with the newer drums. I only had to widen the holes slightly for wheel bolts. Also I had to grind about 1/8th off the backing plate outer edges, and shimmed the plates to the suspension a bit to move them into the drum tighter. Otherwise the shoes developed a ridge showing abnormal wear. You will also need longer wheel bolts to compensate for the thickness of the aluminum drums. It was a fun project, and better brakes are always a plus. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 9 hours ago, My55buick said: I'm looking to daily drive the car and I want as much breaking as possible. The modifications you describe should achieve that goal! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My55buick Posted January 25 Author Share Posted January 25 Thanks guys once this rain stops I'm going to go out and take another look Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 On 1/21/2024 at 7:54 PM, EmTee said: The modifications you describe should achieve that goal! You could be pun-ished for that. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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