Paughco brake drum or not ? How do I know ?

[Raytag]

How to know if I have a Paughco mechanical rear brake drum in front of me or not ?
Are they somehow marked , stamped, lasered ?

Thanks a lot !
ray




Background:
One of my problems on my vacation ride was the short lifespan of the rear chain.
All in all it lasted maybe 3000 mls.
The main reason for this is that the rear brake drum is not centered on the hub
Therefore the sprocket riveted onto the drum is out of center.
And so the chain is tight, loose, tight, loose.
Of course I adjusted the chain at its tightest spot but it seems logical to me that such an out of center drum isn`t doing any good to the chain

How did I check?
I put the wheel into the truing stand and used a dial indicator to check the inner surface of the drum.
The dial showed for an exact 180 degrees rotation of the drum a plus .025" deviation and the next 180 degrees a minus .025" deviation.
Doesn`t sound much but this accumulates to a 1/2" at the chain.
I guess the .025" is adding up at the circumference to a total of 1/2" at the chain.
BTW: I have tried 2 different new chains (RK and Tsubaki)

Before I departed I tried various new am-brake drums. Some chromed, some painted
All of them were even worse.
I have tried different hubs, not any better
I borrowed a wheel and bolted two of the new am-drums = same outcome
I tried different torquing patterns.
Some of the drums were .035" out of center , some even .045"
At the chain the tension differed up to 1 inch

Then I purchased a "supposed-to-be-Paughco". Only in black available. I did not remove the paint from the studs, in case of I have to return it. It was better, but not much. I returned it.

But now I`m asking myself how do I know that I have a Paughco drum ?
When I received the Paughco, the package didn`t say anything about Paughco nor was there any casting/scripting on the drum itself.

I returned all of those drums and re-used the old brake drum (no idea if it is an old Paughco or OEM or whatever)
This old drum is some .025 out of center which accumulates to some 1/2" at the chain.

[Mongrel505558]

That sucks. Is there no way to compensate for the runout by mounting the sprocket somewhat eccentric? On second thought, there shouldn't be that much "wiggle room" at the rivet holes so I doubt you could compensate for that much deviation, and if you could, it would look like crap anyway. As for the Paughco question; I would try to contact them and ask them if there are any identifying features unique to their drum. After that, I don't know.

Jim

[1950Panhead]

This old drum is some .025 out of center which accumulates to some 1/2" at the chain.

If you want perfection a lathe can machine outside round in relation to axle center then center sprocket on drum and weld or rivet.
.025" is not much and it could be the sprocket or the drum or both.

[RooDog]

Ray....
I am so sorry that you are having to deal with bull $hit AM parts. I recently finished a resurrection of my heritage Panhead, been in the family since 1967, fortunately it still uses the OEM rear drum I have had on that bike since way back then....

Paughco is proud of their products and always at least labels their packaging, and often stamps the parts with their name, "Paughco", and city of the parts birth, currently Carson City, Nevada.....

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/PgkAAOSw ... s-l500.jpg

Primary Website
www.paughco.com

Shipping Address
Paughco, Inc.
30 Cowee Drive
Carson City, NV 89706-7734

Phone
Toll Free 800-423-2621
Local (775) 246-5738

Fax
Toll Free 800-538-7916

[kitabel]

I've seen H-D drums with the part number cast in place, but which ones? memory fails.

[RooDog]

Rigid Panhead rear drums are usually pressed steel.

[Mongrel505558]

I've seen H-D drums with the part number cast in place, but which ones? memory fails.

I have three front drums that all have the part number cast on the inside face, but I don't have any rear drums to look at.

[RooDog]

Let's not confuse casting / engineering numbers with actual part numbers, they are not the same.
Let's take a hypothetical cast aluminum part and polish it, paint, chrome, or leave as cast, all would still have the same cast in number, but different part numbers. Drill a few holes, or some other machine work, and still more different PNs, yo?
They are helpful clues to identifying a part, but nothing that will show in any parts or service manual....
Occasionally an actual part number will be stamped into an item, or maybe a sticker attached, think carburetors, but that is not a common practice with the MoCo....

[Panacea]

Could you set it up on the bike and check the sprocket with a dial indicator to determine which way it needs to be adjusted and how much, then re-drill the rivet holes to the next size larger and re-fasten? I had the same issue with every rigid drum I ever had, and just made sure I had some slack in the chain at the tightest spot. Things get a bit more complicated with an O-ring chain, they tend to hit stuff when run loose...

[Panacea]

Mechanical brake drum/sprocket repair, sprocket is loose on the drum

[RooDog]

I'm having trouble following this thread....
Since the sprocket centers itself around the circumference of the drum, how would enlarging the rivet holes help?

If the drum and flange are out of round, how about chucking the thing up in a lathe, bolted to a dummy hub and maybe even an axle. Starting with the axle, dial in everything to zero runout, and then true the drum and sprocket to these known centers. Once everything is concentric, all the inherent problems of a mass produced Harley should magically go away..... Or not....

[RUBONE]

Often there is eccentricity in both the circumference of the drum and the ID of the sprocket. Ideally before riveting the sprocket on a drum it is tried in different positions to see if those eccentricities cancel each other out or become worse. Normally 4 of the rivets are oversized dowl pins and are used for alignment, the other rivets tend to be looser in the holes. Even the folded flange of the drum can be a too tight fit in the sprocket recess causing misalignment. If they cancel great, if not another sprocket or drum may be needed. My experience is that most is in the sprocket machining, and not just for old H-D sprockets, but for every make using a chain.

[Raytag]

Thanks for your thoughts, I really appreciate them.

I forgot to mention that I`m using the stamped steel brake drum with a simple chain
Sorry about the confusion.

Chucking the hub and drum only into the lathe and turning it, is the only feasible way I can think of.
However, as you all know there isn`t much meat ...
Only need to mark the drum so the drum will always be mounted at the same position

One last question I have: Is the inner diameter of the steel drum supposed to be an 8.00" ?

Thanks for your time
Ray

[nifty]

Regardless of chain only lasting 3,000 miles, with 0.025" total indicator reading on braking surface relative to axle, rear brake must have been next to useless and downright dangerous in slippery road conditions.

If hub parallel register area has no egg to axle and brake egg & sprocket egg in same direction, might be better to set up drum true to brake area, then bore & sleeve hub register of drum, yes it might stress the studs when tightened, your call.

Nifty