55 Chieftain brakes

I cant get the right rear brake drum off. The star wont turn to back the brakes off and they are tight to the drum. I dont want to break the drum banging it off. What do I do?

 

up where the wheel cylinder is located there is a large diameter nut,with a smaller hex poking through the middle of it.
that's the upper anchor for the shoes.
loosen the big nut,then rotate the inner hex,the shoes should loosen up a bit.

 

take a sharp chisel,bfh and cut the brake shoe hold downs that will loosen up everything inside the drums. the brake linings are probably rusted to the drums. a little mapp gas to heat up the drums never hurts. that is how i got my r.r. drum off my 55' pontiac wagon.

 

Try turning the star wheel the other way. It's usually reverse threads on one side of the car. You probably already tried this, but it never hurts to bring up the obvious!

 

I couldnt get the star to turn either way. I'll try the large dia nut this evening. If that doesnt work the bfh and gas is next. Thx for the help, will let ya'll know my progress.

 

This sounds like a dumb question, but those drums came with retaining bolts that bolted them to the axle, are those off ? Otherwise cut the shoe hold down pins from the backside of the backing plate.

 

Usually the drums seize where they contact the axle flange.I would try liberally soaking that area with Kroil or some other quality rust penetrant and then use a good quality drum puller.I would also make sure that the drum retaining bolts are removed.

 

My car sat for over twenty years and the drums luckily came off fairly easy, they still had the factory paper gasket that goes in between the axle and drum, when you get to the left side of the car don't forget it's left handed lugnuts on that side.

 

If you have a accetalene torch heat the drum all around and in the flange area until it really gets hot. Tap, hammer around the drum and on the back side of the drum. the drum will expand and come off. Careful around gas tanks or fumes!

 

Thanks for all the ideas. I got it off! The star was seized on both sides rear. I took the big nut off the back top and that loosened it up a bit but not enough. A screwdriver hammered into both sides between the pads and drum but not over done must have pushed the pads in enough to wiggle the the drum off. All cylinders rebuilt and replaced. New head gasket install tomorrow. Driving by friday? I hope!

 

Kinda related but unrelated because i'm not familiar with the axle in your car but... A handy trick I learned working on cars and trucks that had one nut holding the brake shoe onto the axle was, to loosen up the center nut about a half inch, keep the lugnuts tight, and rock the car or truck back and forth as hard as you can. Pops 'em off every time. It's an old Willys Jeep trick I learned, but it works on other cars/trucks with the similiarly setup rear axles.

If they don't want to pop, you can either lower or raise the tire pressure to help get things moving.

 

on that style of brakes there is a minor adjustment (star wheel,every 100 miles since they don't have self-adjusters) and a major adjustment (anchor pin,which needs to be done if you're installing new shoes) if you don't have the shop manual i can walk you through it.