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Posted by Tim Holloway [69.54.28.229] on Sunday, September 25, 2011 at 19:54:32 :
At least you might think so next time you need to pull a brake drum from a Power Wagon.
I have been tearing down a bunch of axles lately, did my eighth one today. In the past, I have always advocated pulling the drum and hub together and seperating them on the floor. Much easier.
Now, I can offer a tip that makes getting the drum/hub off 100% easier. Before, you would pull the driven plate, or the rear axle, then the bearing adjusting nuts. Then turn in the adjusters, trying to guess where the max in was. Then prying around, a little here and a little there, working it over the shoes and finally off it came.
No more of that!
I had one that I couldnt turn the adjusters, the air wrench snapped them off. The drum would not budge a bit. I left it overnight and pondered it. Today, I began by taking the nuts off the bottom pivot bolts and drove them in. The drum and hub practically fell off into my hands. I used this method on 3 more axles today with the same results each time. When you drive the lower pivots in, it really releives the interference between the shoes and the drum and it will come right off.
To seperate the hubs from the drums, I have a piece of a rear axle that is cut off about 6" from the flange. I put the drum down on the floor, put the axle onto the studs, shaft out, and whack it with a 3 pound hammer. It will usually seperate easily but some are very stubborn. Those I will put a few of the nuts back onto the studs and bolt the axle on, and then whale on it. I have had some that take about 20 hard whacks to get them to seperate. I cant imagine trying to get it to seperate on the truck.
Hope this helps,
Tim
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