A slight worry

[grandpascot]

I had cause to remove my front nearside wheel for the first time since I bought my convertable a year ago and to my horror the brade drum came off at the same time. There were no countersunk screws at all. Obviously I shall replace the screws but my question is was there any danger that the brake would fail or cause an accident. I have driven the car like that for over 1000 miles.
Thank Mike

[greendefender123]

Its only there to hold the drum on till you put the wheel on. No danger atall.

[mike.perry]

They are just retaining screws and should not be used to pull the brake drum on as that will damage the screw cross head. Fit the drum and tighten it with a couple of wheel nuts, then fit the screws to retain the drum. Remove the wheel nuts to fit the wheel.

[philthehill]

As the brake drum retaining screws have countersunk heads the wheel nuts should only be tightened finger tight - otherwise the countersink heads may not fit as they should into the brake drum countersinks and they could end up being loose and not doing their job.

[shoebone]

I suspect a lot of minors lost these screws a long time ago .. at least three of my cars never had them, not a problem

[philthehill]

I would suggest that if they were not required BMC and a multitude of other vehicle manufactures would not have installed them.
They are not only there to hold the drum to the hub they are there to centralise the drum in relation to the hub.
Phil

[bmcecosse]

The nuts do that anyway - and the centre hole of the drum. They allow you to adjust the brakes without messing about with wheel nuts.- later on Rover reduced it to one screw on each hub.....but still drilled and tapped the unused hole.....