Contact Between Aluminum Wheel and the Drum

Glennman · December 23, 2025, 09:19:17 AM

I'm in the process of replacing my front shocks and doing some other maintenance on the front end including replacing the Stemco hub cover, bearing seal, etc. I've seen where some have a sort of "gasket" installed between the aluminum wheel and the drum for the purpose of preventing corrosion. While ordering my Stemco hub cover, I inquired about it. The guy at the counter didn't know what I was talking about, but he was finally able to find one in their system, so I had him order some for me. When I picked them up, they are a relatively hard plastic about 1/16th in thick.

These seem like they're so thick that if something happened where they started to disintegrate or whatever, the wheel would be pretty loose with the loss of them. Does anyone out there use them? Thank you in advance!

luvrbus · December 23, 2025, 12:14:59 PM

They used those between the steel wheel and aluminum wheels on the rear, they don't use those anymore, I have some to place on wheels that fit over the lug nuts to keep the impact gun and socket from marring the aluminum wheel ,I have a few of the thin paper gaskets for between the wheels that were used years ago.They call those wheel guards I think Halatec still makes and sales those

sledhead · December 23, 2025, 07:23:03 PM

I spent 2.5 hours removing the driver's side drive tires because the inside steel rim was seized to the drum and the outer aluminum rim was seized to the steel rim
Fun stuff because I think the dumb @$# I bought it from had 2006 tires on it and I don't think they were ever removed
I now have the plastic liners between the steel and aluminum rims
I have never not removed the rims at least every other year to service stuff

luvrbus · December 24, 2025, 01:56:35 AM

Quote from: sledhead on December 23, 2025, 07:23:03 PM
I spent 2.5 hours removing the driver's side drive tires because the inside steel rim was seized to the drum and the outer aluminum rim was seized to the steel rim
Fun stuff because I think the dumb @$# I bought it from had 2006 tires on it and I don't think they were ever removed
I now have the plastic liners between the steel and aluminum rims
I have never not removed the rims at least every other year to service stuff

I asked at the Peterbilt factory in Denton TX why they did not use the bond breaker on the wheels of my truck .He told me they were not needed with powdered coated steel wheel they used ,he made a good point you have 20 nuts and studs on the front made of steel and 30 on the rear axle made of steel touching the wheel made of aluminum they did use aluminum Stemco front seal covers. It is going to depend on where you live if they salt the roads corrosion is going to happen. When we go into areas where the roads were salted we coated the contact area and lug fasteners with Never Seize I bought it 5 gal pails lol. I developed a love for hub pilot wheels they were lot easier and breakage was close to 0 stud pilot wheels can suck with breakage and with the tapered holes damage

Glennman · December 24, 2025, 08:48:22 PM

One thing about it, I don't really use the bus in the winter at all (maybe I will in the future). That being said, I don't run across any salt or other corrosives on the roads to speak of. Maybe I don't need those 1/16 inch barriers. I could probably just make some out of a 6 mil sheet of plastic if I really needed to. Or, paint the hub to create the same barrier.

luvrbus · December 25, 2025, 05:12:00 AM

Quote from: Glennman on December 24, 2025, 08:48:22 PM
One thing about it, I don't really use the bus in the winter at all (maybe I will in the future). That being said, I don't run across any salt or other corrosives on the roads to speak of. Maybe I don't need those 1/16 inch barriers. I could probably just make some out of a 6 mil sheet of plastic if I really needed to. Or, paint the hub to create the same barrier.

All that was used from the factory was a paper gasket sometimes, I have never saw a plastic bond breaker on the front drums,I wouldn't worry about it clean it up and go there is no way you can isolate the wheel from drum without creating another problem ,adding a 1/16th of a inch to each side will crete a alignment problem for your DL .I have searched the parts manuals and I cannot even find the paper gaskets ,they don't show up the wheel maintaince section either

Glennman · December 25, 2025, 10:46:19 PM

Quote from: luvrbus on December 25, 2025, 05:12:00 AM

All that was used from the factory was a paper gasket sometimes, I have never saw a plastic bond breaker on the front drums,I wouldn't worry about it clean it up and go there is no way you can isolate the wheel from drum without creating another problem ,adding a 1/16th of a inch to each side will crete a alignment problem for your DL .I have searched the parts manuals and I cannot even find the paper gaskets ,they don't show up the wheel maintaince section either

Thanks luvrbus, that's the conclusion I came to. It apparently never had the isolators, and the wheels are fine. Why mess with it now???