rear brake drum removal. help!

Are you just trying to got a brake drum off, or are you trying to get the hub off the axle shaft? The hub is held on the axle with a taper, and there is a key. These things can really be on tight! Do not try to pull the axle to put in a press. Get the proper puller.
Typically, these take a very heavy duty puller that attach on three wheel studs. My puller has a 1-3/8 fine thread screw with a T-head with mushroom heads designed to be whacked with a sledge hammer. There is also a mushroom head on the end of the main puller screw.
Install the puller and tighten as much as possible hitting the T-head, then whack the end of the main screw. Make sure the nut is loosely on the end of the axle shaft to keep the hub from flying across the garage. This is no joke, They explode off when they give up. Also, heat around the center of the hub can be your friend.
I would only use an original hub that is undamaged. Unless you find a NOS original hub, the generally available “new” hubs are made offshore and are garbage quality.
-Donny

 

Picture of the type of hub puller needed.



Removing the hub can be difficult, and be sure to follow the suggestion of leaving the nut on the end of the axle so you don't have a heavy piece of iron popping off and causing damage or injury.

Upon re-install be sure you understand the proper sequence of assembly. The hub goes onto the axle, align the keyway, tap in the key until flush with the hub, then install the washer and nut. This way when you torque the nut the hub and key are together as a unit. Torque to 150 lbs, and if the castle nut does not align with the hole for the cotter pin tighten a little more until it does, do not loosen it to align for the pin.

A very common mistake which will cause the hub to split is to install the key before the hub. If you do this the hub will push the key ahead of it, the key will ramp up in the slot as the nut is tightened and act like a wedge. If tightened to torque like this, the hub will split as the metal is very thin at the wide end of the taper. I have found hubs ruined like this on many Jeeps. When I started working on the 47 I have, both hubs were split, and on the driver side the cotter pin was omitted. Direction of travel had loosened the nut to where the wheel would have came off if driven much further. So, this common mistake creates a potentially dangerous condition.

You may also find the wheel studs are swaged. If so the swaged portion needs to be cut before pressing out the studs to separate hub from drum. Several ways to do this. Swaged studs are a hold over from earlier Jeeps with inboard drums. The only reason I know of for this on later Jeeps with outboard drums is to hold the drums in place on the assembly line. The military Jeeps did not have swaged studs, instead the drums were held onto the hubs with the three screws mentioned above. On reassembly there is no reason to swage the studs, or replace the screws, as neither serve any purpose.

 

Sometimes they are brutal. Put on some protective gear and tighten that bi*ch till you're sure its gonna break. It will go bang one way or another i assure you.

 

Leaving the puller on under tension for a day or two, with a dose of penetrating oil and a whack on the head of the puller every now and then will usually loosen a stuck one.