One Piece Hub & Drum

So I finally got the hub off the passenger's side on the Tux-in-a-barn, and discovered that the hub and drum are swaged together, and I couldn't get them apart with a little banging from the rubber mallet. They're stuck together like Ben & Jerry. Anyone care to explain what the advantages of having the hub and drum swaged together like this might be, aside from me having to get out the hub puller every time I need to change the brake shoes?

Also, I was thinking about wire wheeling or sandblasting the rear drums (might do a disc swap on the fronts, budget permitting), including the e-brake drum, and then painting them with calliper paint. Would there be any massive problems caused by sandblasting and painting the one-piece assembly?

Although I'd be just as inclined to get a new hub, drum, studs, and woodruff key. I'm already going to be getting new castle nuts since they're different outside sizes but the same inside size.

 

I don't know of any advantage to this set up. Probably why they changed the design in later years. Search the subject here, and find lots of stuff about it. Some have managed to separate the two so you can pull the drums off by themselves. I don't recall what all is involved in the job.
As far as blasting the part goes, I see no issues with it. I always used duct tape to tape off anything I didn't want to blast or get the grit into. I wuld always tape off the studs to keep from damaging the threads, any bearing surfaces, etc., etc.

 

Sometimes replacement studs are used with a spline part longer than the hub is thick. Then, when the drum is put on, the pressure of the wheel pushes the drum down onto the splines of the stud and they are locked together. And sometimes the wheel studs are used to position the drum wrt the hub, so the fit is very tight.

Blast away, but clean out all the old grease, dirt and grit afterwards.

 

This one doesn't seem like its bound at the studs. Looks more like it was swaged at the center. The stud openings in the drum are IIRC a little larger than the studs themselves. Pics coming in a bit.

 

Update: It wasn't swaged together. It was rusted. A shadetree mechanic friend and I squirted it with a bit of PB, then dropped it onto a board a few times then banged on it a bit and got it free. Guess there's a lot of truth to the old maxim, "If you've got a Jeep problem and it isn't electrical, you can fix it with a hammer."

 

If it is bound up on the other side, smack the drum with that hammer on the flat spaces in between the studs, before pulling the hub. (After applying PB for a day or two beforehand.) Any place else can damage the drum.