Wow, I had great success on the opposite side of my truck. The driver's side rear drum came off with a minimun of trouble. I have discovered something really important too that should be of great interest to all Stovebolters. The type of rust-loosening penetrant that you use makes a big difference!
Around here, my FLAPS pushes a product called "Deep-Creep" for loosening rusted bolts, etc. That product runs for a around 9 bucks per spray can in these parts, but it doesn't work as good as the product called "PB Blaster" which I got at the Dollar General Store across the street for slightly over 3 bucks a can!!
On the passenger side of my truck, it took me a whole can of the Deep Creep product and three days of beating and pulling but I didn't get the wheel off until I applied the PB Blaster! Yup, I sprayed on the PB Blaster and left the drum with the puller in tension overnight. When I came home the next evening, the drum had an oily look to it which it never had with the Deep Creep, and within minutes the drum was off.
On the driver's side of the truck, I sprayed on only PB Blaster and put the drum puller in tension. About three hours later, I returned and the drum was off in minutes.
I am convinced that there is a difference in products. The best thing is that the PB Blaster is made in the USA...just like our big bolts!
It was very important too, I think to utilize the four 3/8" holes in the drum's face to spray the penetrant into. This allowed the penetrant to soak into the backside of the drum and studs. The real sticking was between the studs and the drum...NOT the drum face to the axle face.
If you will notice, the drums have three flat head slotted screws that hold the drums onto the axle during assembly. If you look closely, you will notice that they are unequally spaced. That means that the drum must go on the same way every time it is installed. Wonder why? Because in those days, there was no CNC machining at GM or anywhere else on the planet. When the drum went on, the tolerance between the TEN studs didn't have any room for variation, otherwise the wheel wouldn't fit. Once GM established a tooling setup that would fit the drums, they nailed it and left it alone. The easiest way to insure that they had no problems in production was to make sure the wheels would only go on one way! The way they did that was with the three unequally spaced screws.
Now, I'm no GM engineer, but I work in automotive tooling quite a bit and I am confident that what I surmising is the way it was.
I hope somebady reads this post and it helps them with removing their drums without having to destroy them. Jim
