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Removing 60 Rear Drums

Started by John Morris, January 15, 2007, 10:38:32 PM

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John Morris

I want to pull the pumpkins out of a 58 and 60 a/c rearends but is there a trick to getting the rear brake drums off?

Bruce Reynolds # 18992

Gday John,

The bigest secret is getting the Biggest Hammer (BFH) you can, and judiciously striking the outside edge of the Brake Drum where it is cast onto the steel face that attaches to the hub of the axle.

What you are actually doing is "springing" the central hole of the flange away from the hub of the axle, and the only way to do it is to "shock" it loose.

Using a puller, or slide hammer is a virtual waste of time as there is a convex taper on the outside of the drum side so that when the drum is positioned on the axle, it will always be centralised.   This is a tolerance fit, like it isnt actually loose, but a push fit.

Sometimes it may be necessary to hit the hub with a wire brush, or a file to remove any crud or rustification, but NEVER hit the hub with a hammer.

Oh, and if there is any sort of ridge inside the brake drum, it will be necessary to back off the Adjuster to release the Brake Shoes so they wont catch as the drum is removed.

The last BIGGEST "secret" is to not hit the hammer so hard that the brake drum casting actually breaks.

But, in the severest of cases, and the drum cannot be removed, it may be necessary to have a replacement drum handy, and simply smash the old one off, by breaking the Cast Drum, and getting at the back of the drum-flange to axle-flange with a long tapered screwdriver, and then physically force the drum-flange off by pushing it from behind.

Believe me, but those drums take a lot of force to break, and I have surprised myself just how hard I have had to hit them before eventually getting them off.

If you see that the drum locating hole is moving a slight amount, then push it back on, and use the wire brush or small file to clean up the hub.   Never grind off, or distort the Axle Flange, unless you have a replacement, as a poorly fitted, read as off-set drum, will cause all sorts of brake problems.

Have fun.

Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le),
60 CDV

P.S.   Wear Safety Glasses, and have the surrounding crown wear ear plugs for when you miss with the BFH.

P.P.S.   If you only want to get the axles out to remove the Pumpkins, and that is all, just blow the heads off the Axle Bearings Retainer Bolts, and simply pull the Bearing, axle and brakes out as a unit, then leave the worry about removing the drums to the next bloke.



joe meneghin #22407

Well the first thing in case you didnt do it already is take the nut off the face of the drum.   Theres one bolt on the front.   also loosen up the emergency brake cable if you havent done so.  Then as Bruce said, its time for a big honking hammer.

I just got mine off last week, by starting off with a flathead screw driver stuck inside the inside lip (from behind) and then worked my way up to a lug wrench tip by smacking it with a hammer.    Also some wd40 will help a little.

John Morris

Thanks Fellers, it sounds like a big job! With your know-how I will get it done. I want the pumpkin as its a/c geared and I have a 99percent complete a/c set up for grabs on ebay right now. John.

Bruce Reynolds # 18992

Gday John,

It isnt such a big job, as long as you keep your free fingers out of the way as you are hammering.

Hit the fingers, and it becomes a big and messy job.

Pain lasts a long time, healing takes longer, and blood is so hard to clean up.

Bruce,
The Tassie Devil(le),
60 CDV