[DaveR]

I decided to go with the Wilwood internal drum parking brake/disc brake combo on my Ford 9" rear. My rear end house (a nationally recognized name) informed me that the drum brake set up made it impossible to reach the four axle retention plate bolts with a wrench, so they needed to drill an access hole in the axle flange (at an additional charge) so that a socket will go through the flange and mate with one nut a a time.

Here's my question. As soon as I saw the single 1 inch hole in each flange it occurred to me that this will cause an out-of-balance condition resulting in vibration in the drive train at high speed. It is only 2 inches off-center, but a hunk of steel 1 inch in diameter is a lot of weight.

When asked about this, they responded that Ford has done this for years. I said that's fine on a common passenger vehicle, but doesn't seem appropriate on a set of 31 spline custom made forged racing axles to be used in 150 MPH road racing. They said they would drill a counter balance hole if I wanted, but they woudn't know what size, and aren't set up to balance axles. This from the best in the nation!

I'm thinking that I will have to do it myself. Anybody ever faced this problem or have an opinion?