The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Drum stuck on my 1954 3800 1 Ton

I have begun restoration on my truck that has been sitting in a barn for 40 yrs. One rear drum took me 3 hours of banging with a hammer to remove. The brake adjustment screw was frozen. The other rear drum I haven't been able to move much at all. It appears the shoes are expanded, and again the adjustment screw is frozen. I tried a drum puller, and that didn't work.

Any ideas or tricks from a more experienced mechanic?

thanks

Hy 1954 3800 1 Ton, I am assuming you have removed the screws which retain the drum to the hub? You could remove the axle and the outer hub bearing, that would allow you tilt/twist the drum/hub assembly around. You could also remove the wheel cylinder retaining bolts and brake line and push the wheel cylinder in and down, that may allow the brake shoes to disengage from the wheel cylinder and collapse inward releasing their hold on the brake drum

You might try heating the drum big time with a big propane torch flame. Expanding the drum a little bit with the heat might just do the trick. I've never needed to do that on my '48 but it has worked on several other somewhat newer trucks after road deicer has done its dirty deed.

Welcome to the Bolt!
I read your post in the other forum and was going to suggest beating on it with a hammer, but I see here that you've already tried that! After 40 years I'm sure much persistence will be required (plus possibly some profanity thrown in! )

I feel your pain. Im at that same point, i cant get the passenger rear to break loose. Im going to put some heat on it tomo. I have put alot of liquid wrench on it and has soaked for acouple days so ill try again with some bigger heat and hammer.

Sorry for the lack of replying. My free time outside of work has been removing the brakes. So I loosened the brake adjustment screw, and that didn't work. I cut the brake shoe pins on the back of the dust plate, and that didn't work. I went through a 16 ounce bottle of PB Blaster, most of a WD 40 container, and those didn't work. I think continued using the drum puller, and that didn't work. Finally I removed the main brake pin on the top of the backside of the dust plate, used a drum puller, and finally the drum came off.

Now to question #2, I want to keep brake shoes on this, but hate spending $90 on 1 ton brake pads when I am only going to drive this 5-10 miles every couple of weeks. Can I use 3/4 ton brake shoes instead? The 1 ton shoes are 14X2", and the 3/4 are 12x2?

Heres our video we have been blogging with me pounding the brakes:

NO, 3/4 brake shoes will not work. Have you checked out having the shoes relined? I do not think your friends or neighbors want to meet you on the road with nickle/dime brakes.

I appreciate the feedback I found 1 ton shoes