Relining a forklift brake drum - is it possible? Concerns?

woochucker said:
You might want to find someone that does spray welding if it is worn too far. It doesn't sound like it is though. With spray welding they could build up the drums
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I agree here and if you can't find someone through an online search try your local welding supply house to get a referral. Last resort is a DIY kit you can purchase and try your hand. The down side in this is the chance of distortion so a backup plate to mount the drum to would be best, if not a must.
 
I like your idea of chamfering the inside of the lining so you don't have to machine into the corner of the drum- then just even out the wear as best you can on the lathe, fit some new shoes and call it good. That's what I'd do m'own self. Your milege may vary (at 5 mph) lol
Mark S.
 
Tony Wells said:
There is a foundry here in town that has a few hundred (seems like) forklifts running around everywhere. Back in the 70's I worked at a shop where we serviced the drums by the pile. What we did is find some mechanical tubing of the appropriate size and sliced off a piece long enough to fill the drum. Some of the drums had to be bored to straighten them out and get rid of the ridge. Then torched 3 roughly equally spaced holes in the wall, about 3/4" "diameter". We then welded with brass rod thru those holes to the cast iron drum. On the edge where the drum and liner were about the same height, we used high nickel rod and welded all around. They went on an old Bullard and were faced and bored back to original specs.
Of course, the linings were steel now, not CI, but that didn't seem to bother anyone. We did them by the pallet-load. We also did them on the trolley cars they hauled slag in on a small railway they ran internally, as well as a few other pieces of equipment. I was always surprised where they found places to put drums. I guess this was from before discs or other means caught on.
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That sounds like a reasonable approach. Thanks Tony.

Of course I wouldn't be comfortable doing this on a road car, but on something that won't be going faster than a brisk jog it should be fine.

So for now my plan of attack is to clean it up as well as possible, leaving a bit of material at the corner that can be accounted for with a chamfer on the brake lining itself, to try to get a reasonable surface without removing too much material. Not aiming for a perfect surface, but say two thirds of the wear accounted for. Hopefully about .050 should be enough.

If there's not enough thickness left that I'm comfortable after that process then I'll move on to sleeving the drum.

Cheers,... Jon.



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Rustrp said:
I agree here and if you can't find someone through an online search try your local welding supply house to get a referral. Last resort is a DIY kit you can purchase and try your hand. The down side in this is the chance of distortion so a backup plate to mount the drum to would be best, if not a must.
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I did consider spray weld as an option, and the place that does my brake shoes is also the place that does spray welding for me, so before I cut into it I might get an estimate of cost on that approach too.

If they are willing to do it, that is. Some places are understandably picky about the type of work they are willing to do, but these guys are brake specialists so no doubt they've encountered similar before.

Cheers,... Jon.

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Just letting you know of a process I know to work, having done it a few hundred times. Back then, if I'm not mistaken, we charged $80 per. And we were also a metalizing shop, but this was a far more practical approach. Much cheaper too. I'm about to pick up an old Yale lift, and if it needs sleeved, I won't hesitate for a second to do it. That way all stock parts will fit, no special linings or special radius grinding to the shoes, etc.

Only one time I messed things up. I used the wrong rod to seal weld the perimeter. Not sure why, but did about a dozen with some sort of hard surfacing rod. Made for some interesting work on the Bullard. BTW, the reason for the brass/bronze rod in the holes is so that the weld plugs wear about the same as the lining, and don't end up cutting grooves in the new shoes. Also easier to bore out when running them for the umpteenth time. We did many of them several times as they wore out.
 
Tony Wells said:
Just letting you know of a process I know to work, having done it a few hundred times. Back then, if I'm not mistaken, we charged $80 per. And we were also a metalizing shop, but this was a far more practical approach. Much cheaper too. I'm about to pick up an old Yale lift, and if it needs sleeved, I won't hesitate for a second to do it. That way all stock parts will fit, no special linings or special radius grinding to the shoes, etc.

Only one time I messed things up. I used the wrong rod to seal weld the perimeter. Not sure why, but did about a dozen with some sort of hard surfacing rod. Made for some interesting work on the Bullard. BTW, the reason for the brass/bronze rod in the holes is so that the weld plugs wear about the same as the lining, and don't end up cutting grooves in the new shoes. Also easier to bore out when running them for the umpteenth time. We did many of them several times as they wore out.
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I'm glad you clarified about the bronze welds there Tony, as I had misread your earlier post and was picturing a hole through the wall of the drum for the plug welds rather than the pipe.

Reading back again, you were not unclear but for some reason I had pictured it incorrectly.

Cheers,... Jon.

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if you think about a steel sleeve fitted inside a cast iron bore the steel will be stronger and take all the forces the brake shoes will apply safely. I would not weld on the cast iron at all, just fit a sleeve and use brazed pins to take care of the shear stresses. Jack
 
without seeing your setup----another possible option to relieve problem of too thin wall area could be to put an external steel band on outside of drum if there is plenty of clearance space---just a thought----Dave
 
One thong to consider is that many pieces of industrial equipment used off the shelf parts. I had a Case 450 Bull Dozer that used a simple Master cylinder just like an old Ford. I just went down to the Auto Parts store and looked through their inventory till I found one that matched. Your brakes may be more common than you think.

Another thing that might work is a disk brake conversion kit for boat trailer hydraulic surge brakes. Or you can take that concept and use auto parts and disks made of steel plate.
 
Dave Smith said:
without seeing your setup----another possible option to relieve problem of too thin wall area could be to put an external steel band on outside of drum if there is plenty of clearance space---just a thought----Dave
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Unfortunately that would not be an option in this instance. Next to no clearance between outside of drum and the inside of the rim.

Thanks for the idea though.

Jon.

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