Drum Brake shield, shim, ?

[gaff daddy]

I just picked up an original numbers matching 68 LeMans from a real little old lady fro Passadena. *1 years old bought it brand new and it was built at the Van Nuys plant. My question is when I removed the rallies to go through the brakes I found a thin shield that loosely fits between the drum and the rally rim. Ive never seen one before, what is it and what's its purpose? putting after market rims on so should I remove them ? Thanks Jay

 

[melsg5]

Can you post a picture?
Is it a flat disk with 5 holes?

 

[avell007]

Years ago a shield like that was used to keep Brake dust off the wheels , usually only used on disc brake set ups . I would remove it imo.

 

[cammerjeff]

I have also not seen any shims used on drum brakes and Rally II wheels, pictures would help. I have seen small individual washers used as retainers on rear drum brakes that fit over the lug studs. Used to hold the rear brake drums on during the assembly process before the wheels were bolted on. The front drums are retained by the bearing axle nut, so they were not used on the front drums.

Without pictures of what you have, its not possible to be sure of what you found.