The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Frozen rear brake drum

I am trying to get a 46 Chev 1/2 ton to be a rolling truck. One rear wheel is seized, any good ideas to free it up or get the drum off the truck.

Tell us what you have done/adjusted, Elton

Have you loosened up the wheel cylinder adjustors?

When the brake adjusters are frozen, some people here have disconnected the brake line to the wheel cylinder and unbolt the WC from the backing plate. This lets the brake shoes move away from the drum.

What I did on my 1945 1/2 ton rolling chassis to get the drums off was to spray brake clean into the drum from the brake adjusting openings on the backing plate.

Used it as a lubricant. I then gently used screw drivers for a little leverage.

The drum would move a hair I would spray more B clean in the adjuster openings and along the area where the drum meets the backing plate.

Move it a hair, spray, move a hair spray. As the ends of the brake shoes were exposed where there was no brake lining I would hit them to try and force the pistons in the wheel cylinders to retract. Spray some more, pry gentle, repeat until done.

As soon as the edge of the brake linings facing the backing plate were exposed I then sprayed B clean on to the linings to better lubricate them so the drum would slide off of the shoes.

Turns out the pistons in my wheel cylinders were frozen so they never move back into the WC bore.

But I took my time and use care so the drums were not harmed. Jeffrey

The rubber portion of the brake line rotted off probably 15 years ago, so I suspect the wheel cylinder is seized and the brake shoes are rusted to the drum. Would like to save the drum and get it rolling so I can get it on my trailer.

You can chip and blast and spray and lever on the shoes, just don't damage backing plate or drums. Everything inside is replaceable cheaply. Taking off/loosening WC is a good tip. As Tim says, get some shoe showing so as to knock it inward or break lining off. Hard to damage drums. Bang hard all around drums with rubber or dead blow hammer. Over and over and over. Does not matter what you spay in there if it works. (Nothing that swells lining, of course)

If you are not going to reuse the brake drum, use an air or electric cut off wheel and slice thru or nearly thru the brake drum on top from inside to outside. Then use a thick chisle to crack/split the drum. Had to do this on an s10 that had set too long.

You might try heating the drum around the circumference with a propane torch. That worked for me once.

One can get dollys to put under the wheel(s) to load, or grease or wet the ramp.

Ed

I unbolted the brake wheel cylinder and tapped on the drum, it came off quite easy. I wish I had known this on another truck I did, I really fought with that one. Thanks for the replies.