Which brake drums are good these days?

Or are they all the same? I need new fronts for a 69 GTX. Prices are all over the place, if the supplier even lists fronts. Most only carry the rear drums. I suppose they are all from the same plant? Some are listing Centric, others don’t say what brand, like Autozone for instance.

I did my front 11x3s recently. I found out most of the manufacturers used the same part. The thing to check for is what the MAX size is imprinted on the drum. Nearly all of them I spec'd out were already at max size right out of the box so there was no room for wear. After doing some checking I found that Raybestos 1938R still had the correct specs and Napa also had them as well; however, Napa shipped me only 1 of the 2 I ordered and it was damaged. I did this around 6 months ago so I don't know if the info still holds true and again it was for the 11x3s. If you do want an unused pair of the ones I found that were already at max, I'll sell them cheap.

Raybestos and Delco ones are out there. I have a 10x2.5 rear set from NAPA and they are messed up. They have beveled edge around the register hole that sticks up too high so a stock steel wheel won't contact the brake drum evenly. Likely going to toss them as they are not safe to use.

Bingo. I went through nightmare with the Rabestos 11x2.5 ones on my '89 Diplomat Police car. Couldn't figure out why everything was fine and adjusted well until I torqued down wheels and then the brakes felt locked. I ended up throwing in the trash because shipping them back would've practically cancel out my refund with Rockauto. I probably could've tried to find a place that would have turned them for me but at this point I was over these chinese POS.

I was lucky enough to find NOS ones on ebay although at $100 a piece I was just happy to find them, finish the brake job and have them work right and know they would last.

Put a pair of Centrics on one of the dailies a couple years ago, no problems.
But apparently all brake drums are something of a crap-shoot nowadays.
I'm pretty much in the space where I don't trust anything; everything needs to be measured, checked, and often tested.
That includes replacement parts for vacuum cleaners !

Napa can’t get fronts for the car, period.

Oreillys lists some as 1938dgs. Would those be the Raybestos? They are over 3 times the Autozone house brand. These basically say oreilly house brand.

Oh don’t get me started on vacuum cleaners. Central vac had never had filter changed at this house when we bought it. Got one and tossed the nasty dog smell and hair filled one. Found out hard way the new one is a universal to fit the same model that had an update one year in middle of run. So it really fits neither. Moves around and eventuality lets dirt past the side. Foil tape is holding it so far, but wife says it doesn’t work as good as before.

Read the reviews at oreillys and it says these will cause the interference mentioned by you guys. Scratch that.

Whatever you do buy the most expensive ones. IF you can turn the originals do it! Factory parts can’t be beat even if it’s thin. I’ve had good luck with ORilies,they only stock top of the line items.

The best drum brakes are the ones that have been converted to disc!


I had a '66 Comet Caliente here recently and did brakes on it. Same issue. Drums I got from Rock Auto bound up when the wheels were installed. They also came with 4 adjusters that were drivers side only.

I would still take your Mopar part number and attempt to find them NOS. Maybe a long shot but maybe you will find them somewhere and you can't go wrong and they'll last. Sometimes paying double or whatever is well worth it!

Well I saw a drivers side nos for 900 and a pass side, maybe it was used even, for 500. Seems not in the cards. I don’t want to convert this car since it’s all original, but there comes a point.

Naw...screw that. Put the best sch!tty drums on there before you do that.

Yeah that's outrageous for sure. I got my police ones for $100 a piece but that was a few years ago. I was thinking maybe www.Arizonaparts.com or MAYBE someone reasonable on ebay might have them at $300 to $500 for a pair and personally I think that'd be worth it.

This is why I hate buying from Rockauto, the money you save isn't worth it if you want/have to return something. I'm lucky that I can ship thru my work and I pay less than the Rockauto rate.

Raybestoes is a label of the past , I think it was federal mogul that bought them out and eliminated the brand. Moog is hit or miss , Whoever is the source for Moog lower control arms for 2nd Gen Rams is the same supplier that Autozone's Duralast line comes from.

Mevotech is my go to now.

I bought a new pair of Centric 9" drums for the 96 Dakota rear axle in my 49 truck last year. One was OK, the other was warped. Could only turn the drum .060 the first .020 cut only cut about 1/2 the drum. The 2nd .020 cut about 3/4 of the drum, and the last .020 got me mostly a clean surface. I've got around 4,000 miles on the truck, nothing serious (I'm not hard on brakes), but I'm getting that out of round sound and pedal vibration again. I haven't looking into it yet, the truck is about to under go body work. Anyone want to take a guess if the "new" problem is with the already max turned drum, or is it the other that has yet to be turned?
Since the purchase of those drums, the cost of another set has nearly doubled. A few weeks ago, the 9" drums (had either 9" or 10") were the only drums you could get for the 6 lug Dakota, and the Centric brand was what most were carrying. If the only thing available is the same brand, and the same part number, does it make any sense to pay more money for the part?

Wow, glad i read all this I've used centrics in the past with no issue but it's been a few years (4-5?) I would say to buy locally and have them checked before use. If they're out of whack, get another set and repeat.
HMM and I just sold my brake lathe a couple of months ago as it hadn't been used for quite some.
It's like my buying stocks,They are guaranteed to plummet until i sell, then they rocket into the stratosphere LOL

Might check with a couple of the brake and clutch rebuilders if you have any nearby. Only other suggestion would be Hemmings or possibly Kanter
HEMMINGS LINKY

the best I have found are 20-30 year old parts with boxes full of dust, made years ago. Check Ebay.

It's sad because you use to be that you could count on Raybestos, Wagner, and the big names but now it's seems to be all junk.

As far as rockauto, I was hoping they would tell me not to worry about sending the junk stuff back but nope. I can understand that they would be concerned about people claiming stuff was bad in order to get it free, but I also found it hard to believe the weren't receiving MANY complaints and knew these were at the very least a bad batch.

I talked to the old timer place and they still turn them. When I get them off I’ll see if there is anything left on the bone to cut. The previous owner said a local shop supposedly did xyz to the car and things haven’t worked out in reality. I do think they changed the master since it was in a box and the rear end was rebuilt so I think those were done. For the fronts to be at the end of adjuster and not dragging other than the high spot is a bad deal. If they can’t be turned, at least I did get the maxed out set off this thread as a backup.

I checked and yeah eBay has nos for a combined 1500 shipped. Not doing that. I’d pay a good bit for those, but at that amount I’ll make discs the only non stock part on my car. Be better in traffic as I do drive my stuff.

Last time I got drums from Rock Auto, the sticker on the side had several manufacturer's names, and their respective part numbers. You hear that they all come from the same Chinese factory, but I've never seen it so blatantly published. Anyways, they warped on the first drive to work. Had the ones that were on the car turned, and been driving with those since.

Sounds like they need to be heat treated to stress relieve them before checking them for roundness and then turning.

Years ago we had our ring and pinions heat treated to stop them from cracking. Was really inexpensive.

What a shame the ebay seller wants that much because it's likely they'll never sell at that price and if they would ask a reasonable price you both could benefit. My Diplomat Police has the big vented drums in back and discs in front. I have a set of NOS rotors for the front in storage for whenever. Nowhere near needing them but at least I know I have them tucked away. I get 100k miles out of brake jobs.