All of the Mopar guys out there know how hard it is to get stock rear drums off, needing a special puller to remove the hub from the tapered shaft and all that. Last week I bumped into a guy who is into Dodge trucks, and we got on the subject of brakes, he said on his '52 Dodge truck, someone ground the rivet heads off of the drums to separate the drums from the hub, so now the drums can come off with the hub in place. The rivet "stumps" and the lug studs still locate the drum nicely and the wheel holds it on like a normal rear drum. After all the bullshit I've been through, trying to get those hubs off, this seems fucking brilliant to me. Is there any reason I (and everyone else) shouldn't do it just like this? It sure would make things a hell of a lot easier. Thoughts?
There's a whole bunch of drums that come off just like that. All of those have a forgiveness factor in the brake shoes that allow for the drum to have some wobble if its not perfectly located about the center
I've seen this done, so it does work. However, a few of the guys I've spoken with that have done this, tell me its a bit tight to replace the brakes with the hub still on the axle. Not impossible, just a bit more difficult. The brakes were designed to be replaced with the drums and hubs not there. Personally, I don't see how there would be much difference, given how the brakes are attached to the backing plates, but I've not ever seen them with the hub still there, and its been a long time since I've messed with this style of brakes. Gene
the mopars used a special lug stud that was swedged onto the drum. the easiest way to do this is to cut off the studs and drill them out, with a drill almost as big as the stud, then just press them out. this predisposes you have the hub and drum off the car. any mopar guy should have one of those dog bone pullers just in case. you can also rent them.
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