Looks to me like you have removed the lower (anchor) pins partially, which could give you fits. Those should never be removed. Now the shoe could be hanging up on the drum near the bottom. You should put those back together and try to re-adjust the shoes away from the drum surface. Do you have a shop manual for the car?
No shop manual. The only reasoning behind removing those was in hopes that the springs would pull the shoes even farther together. The is zero resistance right now, though. The drums spin freely...
That is a good sign. Does either drum move in and out at all? It could spin freely and be hung up on ridges.
Looks like you need to back out the drum retaining nut more for some more movement. Unscrewing it just a couple of threads is what you want to do if you drive it around in a circle. Unscrewing it all BUT a few threads is where you want the nut to be.....just enough to keep the drum from flying off when it finally gives. As I have previously mentioned...be certain the puller is tight on the studs, otherwise any looseness in there will absorb the shock of the hammer and not pull as hard. You need a hard jolt. Damn, I wish I was there to help. I have done MANY of these. Got a 2lb sledge?
If you are using anything but the type of puller shown in post 3, you are wasting your time and, as you have learned, pullers. You need a proper dog bone puller. Used properly, they will remove your drum every time. BTW, after you get it apart, do not put anti seize on the taper when you reassemble it. Taper are supposed to be clean and dry. They are supposed to be difficult to separate. That is why dog bone pullers exist
I agree the correct heavy duty hub puller, should pull this sucker off, sometimes tough, but they come off. Go to this website, 40s and 50s Mopars only. Maybe someone on there is near your locale and could help you out. I am not saying there isn't quality advice and help here, but the website I am suggesting capitalizes in old Mopar.....good luck here is the website. www.p15-d24.com
I had a hell of a time with one side on a Desoto.,,,one thing I did was drill a hole over the key to get some juice in there, it might have helped,, Beating on the axle with the puller on will kill the Bearing. I ended up grinding off the rivets to get the drum off for brake work, punched out the rivets, tapped 3/8-24.trimmed down bolt heads to keep drums centered going back on. Then I had a bad bearing ,,it was poor before but I killed it sure,,,lol Finally got the axle out,went with a 4 foot pipe on the puller and a Rube Goldberg rig with a chain wrapped around the axle at the spring with a bar in the chain against a jack stand so the axle wouldn't wrap up,,.one whack with a 8 #'er and it popped. the three leg puller bent the hub flange, which I was able to straighten and trim true to save it. Y'all make some sense outta' that?
This, and heat the heck out of the "red" area in his pic...make sure plenty of tension on the puller...wait for the "pop"
I have had really stubborn tapered axle mopar brake drums before that fought hard every step of the way. Puller, heat, etc....last resort has been mentioned here before...loosen the nut a bit and drive around in circles...slowly...make sure you turn in different directions at least a few times. You mentioned your W/C are leaking...are they leaking so badly to the point where you have no more brakes, or can you still apply some pressure to the pedal to stop this thing? Again, you dont have to be going very fast...and your emergency brake is nothing more than a brake drum on the tailshaft of the transmission and it is mechanically activated it, so (assuming it works) worse comes to worse, you could slow down on the e brake. The weight of the car shifting around as you make your corners is usually enough to pop these suckers loose. good luck!
And after all that is said and done, I had one that was stuck so bad, it bent the end of the axle shaft when we applied enough heat to get it to finally break loose! That was after we tried the drive around, and everything listed, and occurred under the watchful eye of the old timer that kept telling me "they always come off." He was right, it did finally come off, but the drum and the axle were both junk. I would have already had a different axle assembly under the car. Gene
I've been in a similar situation... old "good" dog bone puller, 10 lb hammer, heat on the hub and it did finally come off. That being said, I've seen those pullers at auction sales all brazed up...somebody broke it ....
+1. I had to do this for my truck. I heated the hub cherry red with my Mapp gas, cranked the puller down with my long breaker bar standing and bouncing on it and wham! it came off. Took two weeks of constant pressure.
You need a oxy/acet torch anything else will not get the hub hot enough before the heat also expands the axle. You need a diferental of expension to make the heat trick work.
also banging on the side of the drum helps dislodge the interfearance fit ( while heated and pressure applied) also the beeswax trick for stubborn bolts sometimes helps pop it loose ( heat colllar and place a candle on the hot stub to melt the wax and it pulls it in the joint) , we had shaft couplings like this on tugboats and generators and its heat and pressure , but try to get the outside ring hot and try to keep the shaft cool ( heat it quick and evenly ) otherwise the shaft expands at the same rate and keeps it locked ( why the reccomendation of a oxy rig is best ) , we also would heat the collar then take chilled oil ( 60-70 degrees ) and spray it on the shaft end to try to quick shrink it while trying to turn it the reverse rotation and it was enough to pop it loose . ( the shafts gall to the collar in the direction of rotation and make a mechanical lock rotating it backwards while hot was some times enough to pop them .
Had the same issue on a '49 Plymouth. Nothing would get them off. I ended up grinding the rivet heads flush, drove the rivets out, and tapped the holes for button head allen screws, one-at-a-time, making index marks, so the drum would make it back on the correct side, in the correct orientation. I did 5 holes total, with the 5th one occupied by a bolt, with the head cut off, to replace the alignment stud. did the whole operation with the lug bolts in, and tight, to take every step to preserve alignment. It has been about 3-1/2 years, and the customer is still happy.
Another high quality USA puller is the Ken-Tool. This is mine in action ....it often takes heat and time.
i was not able to remove a rear brake drum on my 1963 Plymouth. the drum would not come off the hub and the hub would not come off the tapered axle. i had used a puller on both. i ended up drilling several hole in a circle on the drum to disconnect it from the hub. i found that the drum was spot welded to the hub in several places. i then tried to remove the hub from the axle in a 50 ton press. it took several attempts to remove the hub. it finally let loose. when it let loose it hit the floor and bounced up. the threads on the tapered shaft were then damaged.
So...here's my battle plan. I believe the rear line is 3/16"...so I'm gonna go buy a plug and isolate the rear brakes. This way I can at least get the fronts bled, and see about driving a bit to break them free.
when you say you hit it with a sledge do you mean trying to turn the screw with the hammer sometimes that works if you havnt tried smacking the center screw with the hammer try that it worked for me.
Yup. Plenty of them in the yards. Parts are still first-tier at the store, too. No special-ordering. Tons of ratios, limited-slips, and even discs, can all be had, as a complete unit, for the price of a professional-grade hub puller. I run an 8.8 in my Falcon, and, even with the machine-work to turn it 4-lug, hubcentic, I am under $200, with all new brake parts.
Hell I was at a state auction and two Cherokees sold for about $500 a shot. One was even 2WD. For that little bit of money you could part it out a little, scrap the rest, and have it pay you to keep the rearend.
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