I joined hamb because I had trouble removing the rear drums off my 62 chrysler. Like every one else I tyied everything pullers {was told not use heat} tried it anyway to no avail. I beat on the axle for 2 weeks. then I asked an old rancher / mechanic If he knew any tricks. He said it wasnot a trick but this is how they did it in the old days without pullers or heat. Get ready because you will not believe it but it worked for me. jack up the car with wheel on it, remove castle nut and replace with a regular nut[saves the castle nut from damage] screw on to the end of axle[flush] put a 4x4 or 2 2x4's stacked on top of each other and place just inside of the tire.take a2x8 about 14 inches long grease it up with axle grease [one side only] place one end of it on the 4x4 and let the jack down all the way so tire rests on the greased up board. board will be at an angle. take a slege hammer and give the axle a good hit. mine took 5 and it just pops off. I was never good with physics but if you look at the tire from the rear when it's on the 2x8 you can see how it works, did for me Montanabannana
Hummmmm I'm always scared to whack on my car parts like that. Alternate Method: What I did on my 61 Chrysler was I made a drum puller from the scrap pile. It was easy and worked like a hot dam. Take an old rim and lay it on the work bench. Cut some scrap metal 'sticks' about a foot long (read ahead and you will be able to tell exactly how long to cut them to match the other materials you are going to use), I used 3/8" bar stock for my sticks. Stand these sticks up on the rim outside of the bolt circle and weld them in vertically (be sure they are all come to the same height above the rim.) Now place a piece of heavy plate steel on top of the sticks and weld it on. Double check all your welds for strength. Now loosen the castle nut on the drum (but DO NOT Remove it), bolt the rim part of your new tool to the drum, place a bottle jack between the thick steel plate part of this tool and the axle. PUT ON EAR PROTECTION!! (Trust me on this one. My ears rang for 15 minutes after my first drum came loose) Now pump up the bottle jack. Hope this helps some Hambers, Greg
We used to jack up the other side, leaving the side to be removed with the tire on the ground. Then go ahead with the loose nut whacking business. Or, slide a few corners with the nut loose! Turning away from that side, of course.
The method in the OP works on drums that aren't stubborn but a good quality HD puller is still gonna be needed for the real stubborn ones. Loosening the nut just enough for the washer to spin, reinstalling the cotter pin and driving in figure eights a feww times will often make drum removal easier.
Damn, this is a neat idea, I'm bookmarking this. The drums on my '55 Dodge don't want to come off, I'll definitely give this a shot. Where do you find a regular nut with the same threads on it? That seems like an odd one to find, but I'm sure I'll come up with one, or just some extra castle nuts, if this works then it's awesome, those drums are a real cocksucker.
No doubt they are a real cocksucker. I'm fighting mine now on a '55 Plymouth. I just got directed to this thread. Great ideas. I'll be trying them. Look for my thread also if anybody is still visiting. Have a lot of good tips and advice there. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7309137#post7309137
I'll be the odd man out here and just buy the right puller to do the job. I'm wierd like that. don't know why. paid 50 bucks for a chinese puller, then the next weekend found a vintage USA one at a garage sale for $2.00. the people had no idea what it was.
Problem is, none of the new pullers currently available seem to work on these drums, and the Mopar ones haven't been produced in probably 40 years. If there was a puller being made right now, that worked every time, regardless of price, we'd all just buy one. Problem is, they don't.
We would use a length of log chain give it a good hard snap by hand , like a whip.. couple snaps and it would come off , never failed
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