The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Rusted drums

Been fighting with the rear drums on my '49 1.5 ton. It sat for 20 years and sunk in to the dirt. I've got one loose by heating it and pulling it back and forth with a chain, but the same method only gave me half a turn on the other wheel. I'm about to take the torch to it and find another drum, but tightwad I am, I was hoping someone might have a trick to remove a drum like this without destroying it.

Joe,your 49 should have the axle with the 8 bolts and the drum which is pulled off with the hub, right? If so, the best way is to use a wheel dolly to pull the dual tires and drum off together. You can wiggle and raise the dolly up or down to aid removal.Generally the shoe adjusters are frozen and the shoes catch on the drum wear lip.You can try to fabricate a wheel dolly from whatever but I used to do brake service on trucks and there is no substitute for a professional dolly, especially for stubborn drums .New dollys are about 400-800 bucks bucks, maybe you can borrow one? It will certainly help in reinstalling to avoid seal damage... better than a greased board

Actually the axle flange only has 5 small bolts(2 speed), but the drum and backing plate look identical to my '41 which does have the 8 bolt axle.
[img]http://www.etv.net/users/jmcneel/brake4.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.etv.net/users/jmcneel/brake1.jpg[/img]
The slack adjusters are frozen, and though Ive worked alot of it out, dirt and rust in the drum have the shoes pretty tight. I do have access to a dolly at work, but I've always had the luxury of being able to back the brakes off first when using it. If the weather straightens up, I'll borrow the dolly and take another crack at it this weekend.