Technical Brake drum removal…

Trying to get the brake drums off my ‘40 Olds. Don’t really want to shell out $150+ dollars for a puller (this is probably my last project). In my 60+; years of playing with cars, I’ve never needed one to remove a brake drum. Usually, a little prying, wiggling, and tapping and they popped right off. These are being stubborn, anyone got a “hack”?

 

Remind us what a 40 Olds hub looks like. If it's like on a 40 Cadillac, that expensive puller is what it takes to get the hub off the tapered axle shaft. Many old cars are like this, I guess you didn't work on enough of them to have to buy the puller yet?

but post a picture of what you see after you remove the wheel. If there is a big nut in the middle, you need a serious puller to get it loose.

 

A lot of the auto parts stores offer rental pullers.

 

Not familiar with the Olds but if it is like other cars of the time, and has a hub fitted on a tapered shaft, they grow together over the years and can be hell to break loose. They are supposed to wedge together so the hub can't spin.

You need the biggest strongest 3 jaw puller, bolted to the wheel bolts, as Jokester says you can often rent one from a parts store or tool rental shop. Take off the hub nut turn it around and screw it back on flush, this prevents mushrooming the end of the shaft and also, stops the hub flying across the shop like a guided missile.

Worst case you have to put on the puller tighten like hell and leave it over night, then tighten again, before it pops loose. But usually the big puller does the trick.

 

many of the pullers have a "wrench" that you smack with a big friggin hammer.

 

I checked all the local auto parts stores and nobody has a drum puller for rent. They have tools for removing rotors, but I guess not many people work on drums anymore. I assumed that the lugs were pressed into the hub, not the drum (that’s what I’m familiar with). My buddy suggested that I just pull the hub and service the wheel bearings while I do the brakes…

 

I mean, the lugs have to be pressed through the hub. That’s what holds your wheel on!
The puller has to pull from the outside edge of the drum.

 

those drums look like part of the hub.

 

That is a front wheel? Take the nut off and the drum should slide right off. You can then pack the front wheel bearings.

 

That is what you use for most every rig with tapered axles except Ford. Plus when Jim said big friggin hammer he means BIG friggin hammer as in a six or 8 lb sledge.
You should be able to pay the deposit and "borrow" one at a local parts house and then return it.

 

Yuppers, that is a FRONT! drum not the rear drum that you had us believing you were fighting with.

Someone has already redrilled the lug bolt pattern in the past.
Pull the cotter key (blue arrow), unscrew the castle nut (red arrow) and the hub and drum should come off.
Note: clear questions with good photos from the start get a lot better damned answers than vague questions that have numerous answers.

 

^^^^This

 

Actually, I never said it was a rear drum. I do know how to pull a hub, just never had to before to do brakes. I have replaced a wheel cylinder on the side of the road (drum popped right off without a puller), and have done numerous brake jobs…

 

In a lot of the GM cars of this era, the front brake drum IS the hub. I guess it wasn't obvious enough, eh?

 

^^^ this ^^^^^

Drum and hub are one piece. The drum ain't coming off without the hub.

....

 

If it still won't come off once you remove the nut, don't forget to wind in the wheel cylinder piston adjusters (from the backing plate usually).

 

Two things, Never assume that we as a group know what you are asking about, We all read rear axle as you flat ass did not give complete information. That one is totally on you.

Quality and complete questions get great answers, lame incomplete questions turn things into a guessing game.
As others said, a lot of early GM cars had one piece drums and hubs but you should be able to figure out if they will separate when you get the assembly off.

 

better late then never with the pictures, eh? Usually it's a good idea to get the pictures in the first post, then you save a lot of wasted time of people guessing what you're working on.

 

Hold on a minute! When you are using that drum puller tool, you don't just keep tightening it continually - Here's what you do (the proper way) 1: put puller on, start tightening the spinning wrench, 2: give a whack with the hammer on the shaft end. 3: tighten the spinning wrench again with the hammer. 4: more whacks on the shaft bolt (don't go all Hulk on it, just good sharp blows) 5: Repeat. It works - done it enough times on my old Chrysler, and this was how I was taught to do it from the old school mechanics who worked on these cars. It'll come off (some swearing may be used for good effect)

 

You should also have a dust cap over the nut, at the moment you’re just feeding crud into your wheel bearing.

 

Aah to be that age again. Dykes, a Channel Lock and go to 'town'.
All day long

 

Most older cars have the drum and hub integral, so have to pull them together.

 

Jeez guys, ease up! A P.O. Removed the wheel cylinders and shoes to move the car, I have all new parts to install (including a new 2 piston master cylinder), and no, I haven’t owned a GM vehicle of this period. Never too old to learn something new…

 

I remember seeing somewhere a thread about a similar drum, where the owner "had at it" with a mallet and smashed the drum into a million pieces, and then found out that the drum and hub were one assembly.!
That drum should be the same as most GM cars of that era, brake parts as well.

 

if it is a one piece drum/hub [looks like it] and a new one can't be sourced. there may be a hub [with removable drum] from a "sister" gm car that may interchange..
before spending on restoration parts compare the time and money for a disc brake option. I prefer a properly operating drum system but disc kits can sometimes be the best option

 

Oh, and thanks for being patient with US.....!

 

It kind of looks like the lug studs have been swaged to keep the whole thing as a unit, like the early Fords. Clean around the studs really well and look for evidence of swaging (expanding) the studs into the hole in the drum. There is a tool available for cutting the swaged part off of the stud to let the drum be removed and/or replace damaged studs. Problem is, that tool is expensive. Over a hundred bucks for a hollow tool with little carbide cutting teeth.
EDIT: The serrated part of the bolt holes requires the studs to be pressed in. I seem to see that the unused holes in the drum is a tiny bit larger than the serrated holes. That is where the swaging tool expands the bolt shoulder under about 20 tons of pressure on the studs to make a unit. Without the proper tools to get it apart, you can and probably will ruin the hub. Remove the hub and drum and see what the drum wear surface looks like. If it needs to be turned, you don't need to take it apart. Maximum oversize is generally .060" over.

 

You got one of these?

 

Sell it on flea bay when you’re done

 

I just did a brake job on a late model that had probably the last of the drum brakes. The drums had threaded holes for jacking bolts. They finally figured that out at the very end of drum brakes run.