autumn ash
Well-Known Member
Is there anything else holding the drum on or is it just stuck from rust and to the shoes. Passender side spins freely, drivers side is hard to turn.
Stuck rear drums questions
- Thread starter autumn ash
- Start date
-
You are correct. Use a wheel puller.
Kendog 170
Let the boy go !
Sand and spray penetrating fluid (Red) Hit between studs carefully (Yellow)
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
AND NOW IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER ANNOYING STORY from the old days
Sometime in the 70's, I was working for my Dad's parts store. There was a tire store next door, and in they came with a set of rear drums off an AMC (tapered rear axle). I mounted them on the lathe and they almost walked the lathe into the wall they were so out of true.
So I called them next door, and told them "Somebody needs to teach your mechanic how to pull tapered hubs."
"Oh, we don't have the car here, a MATH TEACHER from Hope brought them in."
"Well, HE needs to learn how to pull rear drums, they are junk"
So, about 5 min to 5, closing, here comes an angry, belligerent MATH TEACHER from Hope
"I'm told somebody here is going to teach me how to do a brake job."
I hauled them out from the back room and told him, "these are completely ruined. They were ruined by whoever tried to pull them off the axles."
He left with his free middle finger high in the air!!!!
Sometime in the 70's, I was working for my Dad's parts store. There was a tire store next door, and in they came with a set of rear drums off an AMC (tapered rear axle). I mounted them on the lathe and they almost walked the lathe into the wall they were so out of true.
So I called them next door, and told them "Somebody needs to teach your mechanic how to pull tapered hubs."
"Oh, we don't have the car here, a MATH TEACHER from Hope brought them in."
"Well, HE needs to learn how to pull rear drums, they are junk"
So, about 5 min to 5, closing, here comes an angry, belligerent MATH TEACHER from Hope
"I'm told somebody here is going to teach me how to do a brake job."
I hauled them out from the back room and told him, "these are completely ruined. They were ruined by whoever tried to pull them off the axles."
He left with his free middle finger high in the air!!!!
cudamark
Well-Known Member
I'm not a fan of using a torch on an axle shaft. I ran into lots of stuck rear drums in over 50 years of doing this and found the easiest way was with a little penetrating oil around the center hole and the studs, and then whack the upper outer edge of the drum (not the lip) with a BFH. A good blow at about a 45 degree angle and it should just pop loose. If the drum turns, but, doesn't want to come off, back off the adjuster as mentioned.
If you can back off the shoes. Then lightly tap the drum. The shoes could be delaminated and stuck in the wear groove. Some stuff could break, wear safety glasses, pray and most of all work it back and forth. You will get it!
Always had luck with backing off the shoes and a ball peen hammer or a big rubber mallet. Sometimes all it takes to break the shoes loose is one good whack.
I would be careful about penetrating fluid or oil anywhere near near the drums. That's a bad time waiting to happen if you don't get it all cleaned off.
I would be careful about penetrating fluid or oil anywhere near near the drums. That's a bad time waiting to happen if you don't get it all cleaned off.
autumn ash
Well-Known Member
If you can get drum to budge without it, why tempt fate. The hammer or mallet will break the rust free as it reverberates through the drum, from the axle and the shoes.
cudamark
Well-Known Member
Temp fate? Using the correct amount and type of solvent isn't a risk. What do you do when you have an axle seal leak back there? Throw the rear end away? No, you just wash it down with some solvent or gasoline to get the 90W off, replace the seal and/or bearing, and then hit everything with Brake Kleen before installing new shoes. No big deal.
I replaced 1000s of shoes on these and many other cars uears ago when I was a service tech. I have never seen a need to EVER use penetrating or any kind of other oil on a drum to get it off.
Unless it has been sitting in mud for years, I can't think of reasons that the would not come off using proper procedures.
If you are going to replace the drums and everything you spray, then fine, I'll concede to your point. I wouldnt recommend any type of oil otherwisn't. Yeah spray it with three cans of brake kleen, it'll be good. Till it isnt.
cudamark
Well-Known Member
I agree that most rear drums will just pop right off with one whack of the hammer....especially in our desert type climate. Cars that have been sitting forever and some rusty back east cars are a different story. Some are so stuck that they act like they're welded on. I've had ones where I had to knock out all the studs and absolutely soak the shoes with WD40 to get them to release, or, had to grind off the heads of the pins and pull the drums with the shoes and hardware. Cars that have sat for years in a wet environment with the E-brake on can be a real challenge.
In every one of those cases, it was new drums, shoes, hardware, and probably wheel cylinders and rubber lines from the blocks. So no chance of cross contamination, right?
The first thing to try isn't penetrating oil, right?
If the drum is hard to turn, there's your clue as to what's holding it on. The shoes. I would back the self adjuster off as far as it will go and smack the outside of the drum with a hammer a few times after spraying some penetrating oil around the center of the axle hub. It should come off.
If all else fails, cut/grind off the heads of the pins that hold the shoes to the backing plate, (back side of backing plate) then the shoes will retract from the drums & they will come right off, just replace all the brake shoe retainer hardware, pins, springs etc.
67Dart273
Well-Known Member
LOL, in NEVADA?? Come up here where it rusts, and here is NOTHING like some of the E. rust belt, or even over on the NW coastal areas.
A puller will get it off. It may destroy everything but the puller will win.
What will he attach the puller to? I've not seen one large enough to encompass the whole circumference of the drum. You cannot attach to the lug nuts, since the studs are pressed into the axle.
They make them. Dont make me get off the couch and dig it up. Lol
I know but what I was gettin at is does he have one or have access to it? lol
Toyota made their drums thick enough to have two threaded holes 180 degrees apart right in front of the axle flange. Just screw two bolts in and drive the drum right off. Don't know why everybody else didn't do that.
A few others do. My Subaru does. Nissan was the first time I learned that one and ya, not every body has the puller. The bolts are filed in my tool box.
I was struggling with a drum when the Snap On man showed up. I told him if he could get the drum off I would buy it. Damned thing tore the shoes and everything with the drum. I bought it and never had to use it again.
Sounds like the tapered axle puller I have. Although I have used it twice. Had it over 30 years though. It's there if I need it.
-
