Brake drum won't come off

[spectral]

Hi all,

Struggling a bit with a front drum on my 56.

A stud snapped off so I need to remove the drum to replace the stud.... I've drilled the 3 rivets, removed the castle hub nut... won't budge.

I've put the wheel back on, and try to use that to pull the entire assembly off, still won't come. I've WD40'd around the studs etc in case its rusted on.

I must be missing something, its putting up a hell of a fight.

Pic below (3 x rivets drilled with a 1/2" bit... you can see the snapped stud just after the 3 o'clock position in the photo.

Any help appreciated.

Paul

[cyclonewade]

I had to adjust the brake shoes with the adjuster to allow enough clearance to pull the drum off. My '50 front end hubs "wrapped around the brake shoes".

[mr48chev]

yoYou don't take the drum off the hub you take the hub and drum off the spindle.

If the drum is worn somewhat you do as clyclonewade mentioned and back the adjuster off so you can pull hub and drum off the spindle. Then you can knock the broken stud out put a new one in, pack the wheel bearings, check the brakes over and put it back together and adjust the brakes and done.

[spectral]

Thanks for the response. The drum rotates smoothly, so I didn't think the shoes would be catching on the drum so didn't try backing them off.. but thinking about it, the truck has 60000mls with the original drums from 60 years ago - so there could well be a deepish groove there.

Appreciate the advice. Will try backing them off tonight.

[tmoble]

usually if you take the castle nut off the hub/drum assembly will move out a little with pulling. even if there's a lip around the inside of the drum it'll move some because the springs that hold the shoes have some give. Are you getting no movement at all?

[mr48chev]

From the experience in doing many drum brake brake jobs when I was doing brakes daily most shoes on older rigs lasted between 15 and 25K with 25 k being the real high mileage. Those brakes just didn't last near as long as brakes do now where 100K on a 4 wheel disk brake car before a brake job isn't unusual.

Some times the inner race of the outer bearing wants to stick on the spindle a bit and doesn't want to come off if you have been fighting that.

[spectral]

Thanks guys, most of you were spot on.

It was the bearing stuck on the spindle. I wound out the adjustment about 20 clicks or so and the thing was spinning free and easy. The movement (slight movement as described above) hadn't changed so I presumed the shoes weren't holding it on.

In the end, I put the wheel back on, only tightened the bolts about 2 threads, and then used the wheel as a slide hammer and it pulled the bearing off (and I ended up on my ass haha).

Now to get the stud out... she is rusted on good! I'm letting it soak overnight and will wait until a more socially acceptable hour to start hammering it.

Thanks again

[mr48chev]

I've gotten to where I use a piece of pipe to back up the hub when I knock a stud out.

That or a deep socket that will just reach out past the edge of the drum a bit when you hold it up against the back side of the hub. . That keeps the drum from bending when you hit the stud with a hammer and punch. No need to take the drum off the hub though unless the drum is bad.

[spectral]

wow that took some beating.. all good in the end though, back on the road again!

Thank you again for those that contributed