Brakes 92 rear drum removal

[Olivethefet]

Need some advice here. I've taken lots of drum off. They suck. Last year I put new shoes, cylinders, and hardware on both rear brakes. The other day I heard a dragging grinding noise coming from the rear right of the car. I suspected the breaks so I removed the tire and yet it's the break. Apparently something came loose. I can see the metal piece that rides against the bottom adjuster sticking out from behind the drum. Its loose and I have beat the hell out of it with big ass hammer. It will not budge. I'm at a loss as to what to try next. I think removing the entire axle is extreme but not sure what to do next.

 

[Olivethefet]

This pic shows the retainer better.

 

[JD1964]

Use a pry bar on one side between the backing plate and drum. Pry a little to get outward pressure on the drum and then bang the other side of the drum. It may only move a tiny bit but that progress. Then, move the pry bar to the other side of the drum and do the same. Repeat....hopefully this method will let you gradually walk it off from side to side

 

[JD1964]

Understand you will not be banging outward on the lip of the drum but instead smacking it on the side to create a shock wave. The shock wave combineb with the pry force should walk it out.

 

[dgollem]

Can you pry it off with some crow bars or use a brake drum puller. There are lots of examples of pullers if you search with google images. The worse case is you break a shoe or the springs or spring retainers. All are replaceable and not that expensive. If the E brake bracket came off and is jamming it, it may be little more problematic if damaged by brute force but still not impossible to replace. I assume you cannot back off the adjuster to get the shoes to retrack under spring power. Other than being locked by a goove worn into the drum there is not much that should keep the drum on. A small groove in the drum can really make for a stubborn drum removal if you can't retrack the shoes. Maybe someone else will have a better idea, good luck and post the results. I pretty sure pulling the axle still will not separate the drum.

 

[Olivethefet]

Thanks for the replies. I'll give the pry bar method a try. I just dont want to bend the backing plate. The adjuster is about to fall off and the shoes and drums are new. I doubt I have 200 miles on them. As far as messing up springs or shoes, I'd just replace them not that big a deal. I've just never had so much trouble removing a break drum!

 

[Olivethefet]

Well, to give this thread a conclusion I did get the drum off over the weekend. I brought a large three point puller home with me from work. I thought I was going to break the drum. For whatever reason it acted like it was hung on one side.

I tried prying on it like suggested, but it was going to bend the backing plate so I stopped doing that. Once I got the puller on it tight I was able to hit up on it and that caused whatever was hung up to let go. The inside of the drum had one minor groove in it, but I dont see how that could have had it hung up.

This was actually broken in half.

This is what it looked like when I got the drum off.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Blown88GT]

The self-adjuster broke. Probably wasn't seated right. It's happened to me, but it didn't break. The rear drums are difficult because the parking brake cable doesn't adjust. The self adjuster is the only adjustment. You'll have to work the parking brake 100 times for it to fully adjust.

 

[Olivethefet]

Well apparently there was an issue with that brake the moment I put it back together. I'm sure I just didn't get something seated right. The brakes are fairly straight forward, so I can only blame myself for this issue!

I got the car out last night and took it for a quick test run. The pedal feels much better, part of why I think I had it screwed up from the get go. I'll have to work on the parking brake, but it seems to hold pretty good as is.