The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts 1972 C50 brake drum removal for dummies

Hello i am having the damndest time figuring out how to replace my wheel cylinder on my truck and can't get the drum off. can't find much on that in my manuals which I didn't go to until I couldn't for the life of me figure it out haha and I feel like a total scrub for asking this cuz I didn't know a simple brake job was so complicated on a bigger truck

Back the brake shoes off
Pull the axle cap off
Slide the axle out.
Look for the lock tab bent over a bearing nut flat.
Bend it up remove outer nut, lock plate, inner nut.
Pull hub/drum together and catch the outer bearing.
Tom

Well you see I did find sumthing saying to pull axle out on the web but I tried and my axle won't slide out all the way the end gets caught on sumthing inside it feels like...

And jus looking at it it doesn't look like taking axle out is really gonna do much but i guess i could be crazy... the drum looks as if it should jus slide off over the hub but it won't it's not stuck either rotates freely jus won't budge outward... and I did take 3 screw out of drum that appeared to be holding it on but they didn't free it up much

Well It's been a Looong time since I was in one but I know the axle pulls out.
Then remove bearings as I said and pull the drum.

Now if you took three screws out then yes that drum pulls off the hub,
But it's froze so you stand a chance of breaking it if you beat on it or try to pull
It off.
Tom

So I tried screwing the shoes inward and now they are seized up won't spin now and still drum stuck I have found in my book that i have the double action brake system so axle has nothing to do with drum removal question I have since I seized it up by what I thought was loosening shoes could I loosen wheel cylinder and push it inward to release some pressure off shoes or is that jus a dumb idea but that's where I'm at on this lol

And if I do figure out how to get axle to pull out and get the whole unit off axle I still would be in same [censored] pond im in now with drum stuck on hub but hub off axle so don't get how that will help besides not sitting on ground lol

And why is this forum so impossible to post picture of stuff, would be nice if it was easier dont they know pictures are worth a thousand words and my thumbs are getting tired (via cell phone use)haha

The self adj. only lets you turn one way.
Now you need to push the lever out of the way and hold it, to back off the adj.
Before you do anything else.
Once hub/drum is off you can press it free if you like.

Where are you able to see this lever?Only hole I could see anything in was the turning gear thing. I know what you mean it adj brakes when in reverse and pressing brakes but I couldn't see the lever I figured there was one cuz it would o my go one way and I guess that was tightening lol

I have 4 dust cover holes, two go to gears (oval hole)and other 2 are jus peek holes (circle) and can't see much in them

Ok so I figured it out there isn't jus a little lever it's a triangle shaped plate that the springs push into place to adjust and you jus have to push it back and turn adj gear threw same peek whole which I'll state is a pain in the butt to do while laying on ground biting flashlight to see in hole cuz I got screw drivers in both hands trying to loosen haha took sum trickery to get it but it's done time for the part hunt....and these 2 ton drum brakes are definatly a step up from regular drum brakes everything at least twice the size if not bigger and this was my first big bolt brake job so wasn't sure about what I was getting into at first haha

Good for You.
One of those "Head Lamps" goes a long way here.
There is two wheel cyl. per wheel.
Tom

Has anyone changed out the axle shaft seals inner and outer on this size axle if so would anyone have part numbers because it being so old part stores are useless with their computors

And I still can't get my axle shaft to jus pull out like I've read not sure what the deal is I thought it was free floating I can pull it out about 2ft but stops at the end like there is a lock nut or keeper of some sort but idk do I have to take rear diff cover plate off and remove a pin or sumthing at end of shaft??

Make sure the axle is level with the rear housing when you slide it out, you have to pick it up close to the hub and push down on the axle bolt flange as you bring it out. The splines might be catching on the bearing.

Hope this helps,

Mike B

Hy DIY.MechanicMike and guys, I believe your inner rear seal will be National p/n 9128S, the o.e.m. p/n is 3874368, that seal has a 5 1/2" o.d., hope that helps.

Ok thanks for part number.. Hope I can get one but I was gonna ask how many seals go to axle shaft/hub area? It seems to me that there should be a seal inside of axle housing holding gear oil back or should that be able to flow to gear on end of axle shaft? And if that is the case then I should jus need outer gasket for hub/axle cap and inner seal that I'm guessing fits inside of bearing cup or where does this go cuz I don't think mine exist anymore on my rig haha only seal I have found is the gasket on inside of hub/axle shaft cap.

There's only one seal on the inside between the inner bearing and brake backing plate,
For lack of a better explanation.
Only a gasket at the axle cap end.
The bearings run in gear oil.

You get the drum off?
Tom

Ok so the seal I was assuming was inner is actually attached to inner bearing correct? And if that is the one is it pressed on or how does it come off and I measured it and its smaller then 5.5in it's more like 5 19/64 but could someone have got wrong part and jus put on and that's why grease and gear oil covered inside of drum/brake mechanics cuz it was a mess and im not even sure it is a wheel cylinder that's leaking think it's just the axle seal, but probably gonna check cylinders while I'm in here like this and btw how can I test leaking wheel cylinders with drum off or is that even possible cuz I don't wanna put back together after I fix axle leak and find out cylinders are leaking and have to take all back apart??? Or if I'm doomed to that someone jus rub the salt in for me haha so I know what needs to happen cuz I don't like guessing/learning from mistakes would rather learn from other ppls mistakes/experiences...that have succeeded of coarse lol

Yes got drum off had to loosen adj screw for shoes to slide by and then seen how messy it was inside there and realized that leak was axle seal cuz it was greasey inside drum and not from brake fluid so continued to remove axle since drum was off to see seals and had to use my thinker to get axle out cuz I said it was stuck at end wouldn't go and I interwebbed new axle shaft and seen there was jus splines on end so I got a screw jack, pulled axle out as far as I could(4inches from end of shaft)put screw jack upagainst hub directly under axle shaft and out metal tube between jack and inside of axle gear and screw jacked axle rest of way out so helpful hint to all you 2 ton axle repairmen if shaft gets stuck at end that's easiest/safest way to get it without pounding on inside of gear or using one of those slide hammers cuz I'm not so sure that would have worked for mine would have be jerking the hell out of it for a while haha

Here sum helpful info for anyone doing same as I have here but I got some part numbers;
Rear inner hub seal(presses in inner bearing/cup)-36314
Rear upper and lower wheel cylinder(same for my rig)-37241
And these are napa part numbers and they are located everywhere

Those are definitely NOT the same wheel cylinders that are on my rig. 1969 C50.

punctuationisyourfriendigetoutofbreathreadingyourposts!

My '69 T50, not C50, has at least two possibilities for wheel cylinders. My truck has the heavy spring option on it according to the build sticker in the glove box. The standard cylinders are smaller than the ones that come with the heavy springs. I have to assume that the factory figured if you needed bigger springs you also needed bigger brakes. I have not found out exactly what I have number wise but I did find cups and springs to replace the innerds.

I have to believe that C50 brakes also depend on which springs were specified when the option list was filled out so beware.

At least he uses the space bar!!