Jump to content

Drum Brake Woes


Recommended Posts

So I am redoing some drum brakes on a spare XJ axle for my lift and new tires. Time to pull off the drum, and whattya know, the brake pads and everything else decide to come with it. I had already tried to loosen the shoes, but they were too stuck on it to release. Any ideas of how to get the drum off?

 

thanks,

JD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

its just a junky D35 with 3.55 gears. Picked it up with a front axle to help out with my new 31" tires (3.07's not too good). Was gonna go through the brakes, it got stuck and started pulling out everything with it. The star wheel turned, followed the Hayne's manual on the whole drum thing. Did the star wheel and turn other way.... Just looking for some ideas of how to get the drum off. The shoes are stuck to the walls of the drum. Everything was pretty rusty inside anyways, so i was just thinking of replacing the innards and the drum with my 3.07 rear axle ones.

 

Thanks,

JD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They may not be "stuck" (meaning adhered, as with glue) as much as they may have warn a groove into the drum and are catching on the lip they created. Had that issue with my buddy's Bronco. Eventually we gave up and took it to a shop to get the whole assembly torched off and replaced them with the good assemblies from the junkyard. Even the shop couldn't get the things off the proper way. :D (makes me feel a bit better when the pros also fail)

 

What year axles are you dealing with? Both C-clip?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They are off a 98 with ABS. Decent condition of the ring/pinion and everything else, except the rear left drum. The right one came off no problem. The 3.07 axles are off a 92. I paid $150 for both of the 3.55 axles and all of the stock suspenison, so I didn't really mind the D35. They only have 120k miles on them compared to the 175k of my cherokee's. The guy had a pretty sweet 98 cherokee with 6.5 longarm, SYE, 33's, 140k for $5.5K. A little out of my price range for now though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll probably just take the good ol'e 4 ft. pry bar and pop it off, damaging as much as I can :fool:

If you do that, you'll destroy the backing plate.

 

I suggest you take another try at turning the star adjuster all the way in. Even if there's a lip from wear, the drum had to go on over the shoes. I've never seen a lip so bad that the drum won't come right off once the star wheel is cranked all the way in.

 

Are there parking brake cables attached to this axle? If so, cut them off as close to the baclkng plate as you cen get. They could be frozen in the extended position and that could be what's holding the shoes out against the drum.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

pull on one side of the drum and take your dead blow to the other. go back and forth. if that does not work. cut the hold down pins from the back out so everything else comes out. if that does not work. take a slide hammer with a hook and have at her, walking it back and forth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...