I rolled this beautiful two door wagon out of my nieghbors barn (in Miami,Fl). There is absolutly no rust. BUT, the brakes are shot. I tore down the front end and replaced the drums with disc brakes. I need to replace the cylinders in the rear to complete the overhaul but the drums WONT come off. Any ideas?
Get a 3-arm puller with a big handle you hit with a sledge hammer. Spray with penetrating oil and leave the axle nut on a few turns when you use the puller-drums can pop off with alot of force. Or you can try loosening the nuts a few turns and driving around the block. Listen for a big pop from the rear. You'll get it eventually-they're usually a ***** to get off even on daily drivers.
I have the engine at a machine shop getting decked, so the "driving around the block" part, I cant do lol. But I did try puting a three arm puller on. No give at all, even after I heated it up with a torch and hit it with a BIG hammer. I sprayed this thing with several cans of WD-40 too. I can see that the shaft and hub is keyed. Should I drill out the key???
The drums won't come off because the brake shoes are holding them on as you can see a lot of people use what ever to beat them off.Ask yourself what is holding the shoes on that would be 4 little keepers you know the ones that eat your lunch trying to get the spring on and twist the keeper on without it shooting across the shop.The ones you put in from the backside of the backing plates now this is the tricky part use a small grinder and grind the heads of the keepers without doing damage to the backing plates.Grind most of the head off then use a small punch or a nail and knock them thro.Then the drum,shoes and all will for the most part just fall off Beats the hell out of Beating on them all day.
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