The Panhead & Flathead Site

When I was lubeing the rear star hub on my pan I noticed the sprocket is loose on the drum, one of the 4 large rivets is gone and hole smeared. Would a new dust ring and rivet set be in order or the whole drum/sprocket assembly? And is there a special tool for "peening the rivets"? Mike

Panacea,

FWIW, I gave up on the rivets. I just couldn't get the rivets to expand enough to fill the hole. Then they would very quickly work loose and bugger up the hole.

I got some stainless screws and used nylock nuts to fasten my sprocket to the rear drum.

Some guys eliminate the fasterners altogether and just put 3 or 4 welds on it.

Panacea,

You can screw or weld the sprocket to the drum as 57pan mentioned but you can also do a good job replacing the rivets if you have the correct rivets and the right tool. If the holes in the brake drum flange are wallowed out you can also drill a new set of holes half way between the old set, use care in center punching the hole locations, and then a good bit of the correct size. A drill press is highly recommended for this task.

I have had great success using a screw-type rivet tool clamped in a vice with a short cheater pipe on the handle. The critical thing about the whole setup is having the proper punch and anvil in the press. The anvil (die) should have a recess or dimple to position the rivet head and the punch should be a hollow (cupped) type to evenly expand the shaft of the solid rivet and sort of "mushroom" it tight against the parts.

If you go to all the trouble of replacing the rivets you should probably replace the sprocket while you're at it. If the sprocket has been running loose the rivet holes are more than likely elongated.

The rivet press can also be used for brake lining replacement and other jobs as well. I think they're only about $26.00

and where did you find such a nice tool? i need one!

john

Thanks for the help guys, and this rivet press is just what I need. Do they come with dies? Mike

Let's not weld on brake drums,...okay?

....Cotten

John (and Mike too),

The rivet tool is distributed by an outfit close to you called RAPCO Inc (Replacement Aircraft Parts Company) in Hartford, WI. They are kind of like Tedd's V-Twin, but for guys that retore old airplanes. I wonder if they have as much trouble with their re-pop stuff as we have? I can only imagine what happens when the float in a Piper Cub carburetor quits floating! Makes me think of something Cotten once said: "aren't you glad that Harleys don't REALLY fly?"

They have a bunch of distributers, I bought mine from this place out in California, they were the cheapest. Mine came with the die and the punch.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/topages/RapcoBrake.php

Another option: Hot riveting. You can use a hollow point punch to peen, but you'll still need to make or buy a simple anvil for the bottom. Just heat the fivets until they're nice and cherry, then *squarely* smack the crap out of them. The heat softens the rivet enough to fill up the spaces for a nice tight fit. Folks have been doin' 'em that way for years and I've never seen one loosen up. Plus they're removeable for when the sprocket wears out...

-Kuda
'49 panchop

My apologies for resurecting this old post, have a quick question about the rivet press. Just bought one and can't for the life of me figure how it can be used on the sprocket rivets? The body of the press hits the drum making it impossible to line up. What am I missing here?

Tickface, can you flip the drum/sprocket so the threaded part is alongside of the drum? So sprocket down. I wound up picking up a nice drum at a swap so I never did replace the sprocket on the old one...Mike