Getting Front Brake Drum Off Tricks

Any one got any tricks for getting front brake drum off a 64 cj5.? I have backed off the adjusters but the wheel is still tight. I can hear rubbing when I turn it with help of a long screwdriver. The drum does not
look to be swagged at the lug bolts. Seems like maybe a spring is broke? Maybe wheel cylinder stuck, but I need to get the drum off to see. The wheel bearings seem to be fine. Thanks

 

Smack hard on the drum outer face, in between the lugs.

 

Did you take out the 3 countersunk screws on the face?

 

yes, even trying to remove hub and drum together, but the shoes appear to be in the extended position, with the adjustment as closed as possible.

 

Probably a combination of shoes rusted in place and stuck wheel cylinders. Try prying with a tire iron while whacking with a big hammer from one side to the other.

 

Try rotating and pulling on the drum while banging on it with rubber mallet. Three hands help. That usually knocks the dirt and rust loose enough for the springs to pull the shoes away from the drum. If the mallet doesn't work try a hammer.

 

I would expect to see swaged studs on a CJ5, but he said he removed the three counter sunk screws which I have only seen on M38A1 drums which are not swaged on, so I assumed the drums have been swapped at some point.

 

The liug bolts are not swaged into the drum. I have hammered while rotating the drum with a pry bar until I can at least turn the drum by hand. Only one spot seems to drag.. My knees gave out so I will try tomorrow after a good dose of bengay ..

 

9" drums have the three screws.
All the 10" I've seen have the swaged studs.

 

Sid is incorrect.

All of the 9" drums I have encountered on civilian Jeeps had swaged studs, and all of the 9" drums I have encountered on military Jeeps had the three screws and the studs were not swaged.

 

I don"t know what originally came on this jeep. I've had it 10 years but who knows if and when they were changed.
I just want the drum off..

 

Be careful. It is easy to bend a drum out-of-round.

Weel... my stock '56 CJ5 9" studs are NOT swaged. Three screws, like Sid says. Like my '52 M38A1.

I believe earlier models ran 9" drums inside the hub flange, and therefore were necessarily swaged.

 

Not doubting you Pete, but I have a pile of mid sixties CJ5 drums / hubs in a trailer in my barn which are still swaged together.

Most of the Jeeps I have owned were flat fender CJ and Military Jeeps. The only CJ5s I have worked on were mid to late 60s and all of them had those darn swaged studs, but not after I did a brake job on one. One of the things I do when I get a Jeep with either type of 9" brakes is to upgrade to 11" Bendix which is why I have a pile of takeoffs. Anyone needing these can have them cheap.

The inboard drums were the old Lockheed brakes used on MB through CJ2A and were long gone before the CJ5 was built.

Early CJ5s such as your 56 were being built when the M38A1 was still a fairly new Jeep and very well could have shared the same brake drums. I have never worked on a CJ5 that early so am just guessing.

There is no valid reason for swaged studs on the outboard drums other than to keep them on the hubs while going down the assembly line, same for the three screws.

 

Agreed. And why wouldn't one screw serve? A mystery for the ages.

 

FWIW the original axles on my ‘59 CJ-5 had the screw retained drums front and rear. No sign of military paint anywhere and date codes on the ring and pinions was 1958 so pretty sure original.

 

The CJ3Bs had the three screws holding the drums on from the factory too.