I've made a bit of a boo boo. I was rebuliding the front wheel cylinders as one had seized the other week on the off side. I cured that one so I thought I'd to the near side as well. I did all that no problem, cleaned out the bores and re assembled with some red rubber grease (which I think was lacking when I bought the cylinders new). Anyway I had bought some new wheel studs as the NSF was the only one that had left hand threads so I thought I'd change them.. I don't have a press but had various sockets etc to use for knocking them out and in including supporting around the holes where the knocking in and out was taking place.

The first one went ok, chaged over fine so then I appear to have made the mistake of knocking the 4 others out (rather than one at a time). As the others were going in I noticed there was a gap between the drum and hub as if the drum wasn't sitting flat to the hub and no matter how hard I tried to knock the studs home it wasn't getting better. I took the hub and drum apart again and cleaned up the surfaces and tried re assembling again. It seemed better until I fitted the assembly to the car but the drum doesn't seem to be round anymore

I had the drums turned a few years back and I guess they're now right on the limit. I can't adjust the brake shoes anymore without them binding too much which means the pedal is too close to the floor. Moral of the story "If it ain't broke........"

Are there aftermarket or later model drums that can be fitted (maybe machined) to the hubs if I get the studs pressed in properly this time at a machine shop?

Ventured into the garage today after a couple of weeks of living with the carnage I caused to check a couple of things. The Hub looks fine and runs true. The drum has a crack running from one of the lug holes to halfway across the front face. I mount the drum backwards on the hub to measure it I can see I've warped the front face between mount flange to where the brake shoe surface is. Run out is about 1/8".

It doesn't look good.....

But I found out this today as well..

The rear end of the 60 Dodge is off at a guess a 65 fury. That has 11" x 2.5" brakes too and the drums are aslo finned. Ive just tried tone of these "Over" the front hub and these are pretty much a perfect fit. These are a much heavier drum with the added fins that would help cooling (to a point). The wheels would sit out a fraction as the thickness of the drum face would be added to the outside of the hub. From what I have measured the shoes will have full contact over the stopping surface as well. In future the drums would slide over the hubs without the hubs (wheel bearing) having to be removed..

The casting numbers on this particular drum is MWY1 and 36418. I cant seem to find any other info to confirm what they are..

Can anyone give me a reason why this wouldn't work or is a really bad idea?

I could machine a slight shoulder on the hub just enough to center the drum but the shoulders on the studs although "not tight" are not sloppy in the holes of the drum either. It's only the studs centering the drum (although an interfereance fit) from factory. 

Short version. I damaged a front drum trying to be careful (but not careful enough) changing wheel studs. Looking at the cost of drums and hubs plus shipping to the UK makes it a very costly whoops on my part.

I know the front brakes are not the best in the world but I'm not going racing either. Just looking at options for a slight upgrade without hurting the pocket as much or going disc and losing the option of 14" wheels. 

Thanks for the reply. Which drums do you have and how much are they? Where is/was Hershey?

Carl