Rob,
Is the drum wobbling independently of the axle or is the axle itself wobbling? Jack it up and watch the center of the axle.....it should run true. If not, you somehow ended up with a bent axle. I assume the bearings are set-up correctly and that there's no radial play and that the drum isn't loose on the axle. That would be pretty obvious.....and noisy.
F

Could be the axle shaft is twisted and getting ready to break. DO NOT drive the car on the road until you investigate this thoroughly. Time to pull the drum, and check the axle shaft and the wheel bearing. At the very least it could be the drum being severely out of round from overheating due to the shoes dragging. (this can happen when car sits for long periods, the wheel cylinder leaks and then the piston become stuck in the bores, they will move out, but the shoe return springs cannot pull them back in all the way). Check the drum for out of roundness. If the problem is the axle shaft twisted, or the bearing bad, the the outer and inner seals may be bad too.
Axle shaft end-play should be within .001-.004". I am assuming your car has the Dana 44 rear end. Do you have the dual range Hydramatic? Has it been shifting hard lately?

Frank and Kenneth,

Thank you for your responses!

The drum isn't loose. No clue if the bearings are set up correctly.The car has the single range, but it shifts pretty nicely. Has Dana 44, It does have a looseness/clunk when initially engaging from neutral to drive, and neutral to reverse, but otherwise shifts and performs well. Regularly cruise at 70+ on 100 mile tours.
I've driven the car without doing anything to the rear other than changing the oil for several thousand miles. Haven't noticed any changes.

Will pull the drum and do checks as suggested.

Rob

"Put car on stands and removed rear wheels. Ran car in gear, left rear hub wobbles.
Wobble isn't in/out on a horizontal plane, it is vertical; top moves in/out"

I can't imagine how that can be anything but a bent axle. Since you've been driving the car for couple of years, something has changed. Ken makes a great point: if it's a bent/cracked axle, don't drive it 'til you've replaced it. A wheel that parts company with the car can have deadly results. I'm sure that if you'd hit something that damaged it, you would certainly remember it, but one never knows how a car was cared for in a past life.
F

Thanks Frank,

The wobble, at least the part I can feel in my seat when driving, has been there since the day I bought the car. Other issues have been more important to deal with, such as the steering problems I've been chasing since day one.
In fact, coming home from the long tour Sunday, with plenty of time to ponder, the steering is what made me think about checking drum temperatures. The steering is far better, but it still wanders back and forth, and pulls one way, then the other. It isn't terrible, and I can apply the bakes and let loose of the wheel and it stops straight, but the dragging brake theory, and or out of alignment axle could potentially affect steering. I'm actually hoping there is a problem I can fix, as I'm out of things to repair or replace in the front of the car...

Rob

Rob, I concur with Ken and Frank. Something you need to take into consideration is these hubs get pulled off with a hub puller?. It could be sometime in it's life, the incorrect tools and/or procedure was used when removing the rear drums. As you know, the puller uses the lug bolts in the hub to remove the drum. If they screwed the bolts in one side further than the other allowing the hub puller to mount offset, then started pulling it, it could have bent the rear axle, or could have bent the actual hub for the brake drum. As you know, the hub is riveted onto the drum. Before you remove the drum, take a dial indicator and check the run-out on the drum at the mounting flange face for the wheel. If it shows excessive run-out, mark where it is at, using the key-way as your reference. After you remove the drum, recheck the run-out on the end of the axle, paying attention to where it has the most. If you have another brake drum, you might slide it onto the axle, recheck the run-out, see if and how much the change is.
.050 of run-out on the mounting flange of the wheel can and will create a wobble where the tire meets the road. If the axle doesn't really show much run-out, then I would look more towards the brake drum and flange.

[quote="Rob Hesselmann "

"Other issues have been more important to deal with, such as the steering problems I've been chasing since day one.
In fact, coming home from the long tour Sunday, with plenty of time to ponder, the steering is what made me think about checking drum temperatures. The steering is far better, but it still wanders back and forth, and pulls one way, then the other. It isn't terrible, and I can apply the bakes and let loose of the wheel and it stops straight, but the dragging brake theory, and or out of alignment axle could potentially affect steering. I'm actually hoping there is a problem I can fix, as I'm out of things to repair or replace in the front of the car..."

Are you running bias-ply tires on this car? It is normal for bias plies to wander and pull from side to side on uneven road surfaces, for example; in the ruts made by heavy trucks, or high crowned roads. And yes, if you have issues with the rear axle such as dragging brakes, worn or seized leaf spring shackles, or perished bushings in the front leaf spring eyes, bad or loose wheel bearings, these all will make the car try to steer from the back end. Do you have the wrapped leaf springs, or the later style with fabric friction pads between the leaves at the ends? I once had a broken leaf on one of my Stepdowns, and this could be felt as as a "spookiness" at the back. With the wrapped springs, it might be hard to see any broken leaves.

Rob

Rob,
If this is something that the car has "always done" but finally annoyed you enough to bring it up, then I'd go with the bent/distorted hub as a likely culprit. I take it that it hasn't increased, you've just gotten tired of putting up with it, right?
I'm back to jack it up, run it and watch the center-drilled end of the axle to see if it's there or if it's the hub being bent. I'll bet on the latter......but not much. You may want to set a pointer of some sort as a reference point to make it easier to see runout.
Frank

Kenneth, Frank, and Doug,

The rear springs were recently replaced with new, the bushings and shackles are good, and I'm running radials.
I can't answer to the rear bearings?
The car was, when first purchased, very scary to drive. It was, literally, hard to keep in my lane. I now can drive at 70+ mph with control, but still irritating wander.

Frank, it has pretty much always been there. I replaced the rear wheels as they were not true, but yes.I am working out more minor issues. The reason this one climbed to # 1 is because of the 350 degree reading on the drum. That was not there all along.

Will get it up in the air and start testing.

Thank you all for your help!

Rob

One of Ken's suggestions was that the drum was out of round. Unless your brake pedal vibrates up and down when applying the brakes, I would think that the drum is okay. (Wouldn't that be the "test", Ken?)

My guess is that the 350 deg. reading was an effect, not a cause. In other words, the heat didn't cause the problem....the problem caused the heat, though the heat may have aggravated the whole situation by causing further warpage of the drum. 350 is a bunch but not so extreme as to have caused permanent damage to the drum, IMO.
Whether bent axle or hub, either would make it nearly impossible to get a proper brake adjustment on that wheel, possibly leading to "dragging" and heat generation.
Don't give up.....we're right behind you.
Frank

I'm not sure what I thought I saw a few months ago when I did a similar video, but this time the axle looks pretty close to true, and the wheel mounting flange according to my dial indicator is pretty close to perfect...

Maybe I just had the brake adjusted too tight on that wheel.

Rob

Yes, the 350 F reading was an effect of the left rear brake dragging. I doubt it was from over-tightening during adjustment. It is more likely the wheel-cylinder has sticking pistons from long term sitting / non-use. Being in Illinois, I think Rob had taken the car out for that drive after which he measured the 350F reading, after the weather improved and the car had been siting for some time. The thing to remember, most if not all drum brake systems have a 8-10 PSI residual check valve in the master cylinder or at least in the line, to maintain pressure in the system to keep the rubber cup's edges sealing against the wheel cylinder bores. Well, this residual pressure does drop to nothing after a week or so..........and then due to atmospheric pressure changes, and the system itself getting cold, the rubber cups pull away from the bores and brake fluid leaks out. The brake fluid in turn is hydroscopic, attracting moisture. which in turn rusts the wheel cylinder bore around the pistons. This rust plus the dried out brake fluid encrusts the pistons and even though the sheer force of the brake pedal being applied will move them out to apply the brakes, the return springs will not push the pistons back fully into the bores, thus the brakes drag. Then the car gets driven like this for some time, the drum gets hot and then goes out of round. Does this make sense?