Front brake drum for Robin Mk 3

Hi

Is there an alternative front brake drum for the Robin Mk3?
It appears the part for the 12" wheeled Robin is scarce as is also the case with the Fox

Replaced the brake shoes today and noticed also that one of the wheel cylinders is leaking (wasn't entirely sure) and that the red coloured brake springs were too long to be effective.

I put it all together and went for a drive. At close to 40 miles an hour there is a terrible steering wheel wobble / vibration and noise from the front.

From this I conclude that the the front brake drum is warped / out of round as well as the other issue with the wheel cylinder and brake return spring.

Vehicle is totally unroadworthy and I have discovered that the drum for a 12" wheel is 'unobtanium' and cannot be skimmed so I am kind of stuck.

I hate to suggest this but did you put the larger hole in the brake drum over the stud with the raised boss? I did it wrong on my Mk 1 once...

Not sure, thanks for that, will check it out tomorrow ~ was not aware of this...

If you're getting a vibration whilst just driving (and not under braking) it sounds more like something is out of balance (the wheel itself?). Is there an intermittent rubbing sound, or does the brake tend to 'grab' when you rotate the wheel by hand? - if not then it wouldn't seem to be out of round.

Why can't the drum be skimmed - is it to the maximum size already? If so, they can sometimes be repaired by skimming to a bigger size and then inserting a liner (in effect, a piece of thin wall tube) and then skimming to the correct size - I'm sure it wouldn't be cheap though.

Emma K wrote:

I hate to suggest this but did you put the larger hole in the brake drum over the stud with the raised boss? I did it wrong on my Mk 1 once...

Having looked at the drum, looks likely that is what I have done...

Had a bit of luck, whilst having my Bug engined rebuilt by Dinky Cars, I was able to acquire a brand new front brake drum for the reasonable price of £48. Will need to replace a wheel cylinder and the brake return springs but hopefully the Robin will be back on the road by the weekend.

New drum fitted (right way on) along with wheel cylinders, return springs and shoes. Took less than an hour to do the whole lot. Thanks for the replies...