Itinerant Air-Cooled

vwlover77 wrote:Um... I know these are stupid questions, but I gotta ask.

You have the parking brake released, correct???

You've removed the small bolt that hold the drum to the hub, correct???

Check....and Check!

I've been here. Nothing like pulling the bus through a creek to park on the property, setting the emergency brake, and getting back to it a couple years later.

Rusted solid. Backing off adjusting stars, hammered persuasion, nothing. Finally just got aggressive with the engine in first, then reverse, then first, then reverse, then first, then reverse. Not pretty, but eventually they broke free.


neal

do what randy said for the frozen adjuster. Once you have the adjusters broken loose and the shoes backed off the drum will probably still be stuck. The drum is most likely frozen to the hub. Beat the snot out of the face of the drum and hub around the parting line between the drum and hub. You can spray that line liberally with penetrant. If you get the drum wiggling but it still won't come off, your shoes are most likely not retracting fully and you will have to get creative and try to get a tool in there to pry them out away or hammer from behind to drive the drum over the shoes. If you can't get the drum to break free of the hub you can undo the the hub nut and take the drum and hub off as a unit. take that opportunity to check and repack the wheel bearings.

Last resort is to pull the cv, pull the big nut on the stub axle, and just beat the f@#ker to holy hell until the brake mechanicals kinda fall apart inside and it comes off. Then beat the hub out of the drum and crack a beer.

Done that one on a couple of parts rigs.

vdubyah73 wrote:The drum is most likely frozen to the hub.

He's been driving it around, I don't think this is likely. He just can't turn one of his adjuster stars to get his pads to retract.

chitwnvw wrote:

vdubyah73 wrote:The drum is most likely frozen to the hub.

He's been driving it around, I don't think this is likely. He just can't turn one of his adjuster stars to get his pads to retract.

I think you read that wrong, chi. Drum can stick to hub just dandy no matter how often you drive it, since it is a static contact.

DjEep wrote:

chitwnvw wrote:

vdubyah73 wrote:The drum is most likely frozen to the hub.

He's been driving it around, I don't think this is likely. He just can't turn one of his adjuster stars to get his pads to retract.

I think you read that wrong, chi. Drum can stick to hub just dandy no matter how often you drive it, since it is a static contact.

Youz' right. I am thinking pad to drum. Guess I should stop letting work get in the way of my forum surfing.

ruckman101 wrote:I've been here. Nothing like pulling the bus through a creek to park on the property, setting the emergency brake, and getting back to it a couple years later.

Rusted solid. Backing off adjusting stars, hammered persuasion, nothing. Finally just got aggressive with the engine in first, then reverse, then first, then reverse, then first, then reverse. Not pretty, but eventually they broke free.


neal

just re-read this. Reverse is the best choice. ever notice that if you are backing up fast and hit the brakes they don't seem to work as well? The geometry of the brake hardware cause the shoes to grab harder going forward than backward. The shoes are sorta pushed away by the backward motion. The rocking motion does help but it can be accomplished with just the clutch pedal.

I always hate having to do this. I feel the clutch's pain.

vdubyah73 wrote:The drum is most likely frozen to the hub.

Bingo - You get a dollar for the correct cause! Colin and I finally got it off yesterday (while all yous were still trying to help me).

Thanks

Different issue, yes, than mine was. Mine was pads rusted to drum.

Glad you got it off!


neal

How? Did you beat the snot out of it?

chitwnvw wrote:How? Did you beat the snot out of it?

A combination of light taps with a hammer, cleaning out the groove around the hub and appliing more PB blaster, and since the backing plates were coming off anyway, we wedged screwdrivers between the backing plate and the drum and tried to pry it back. That, along with the taps eventually got us some movement. Once that happened, it was a matter of using the screwdrivers to walk it off.

I found that a bigger hammer usually does the trick. My bus sat about ten years before I got a hold of it and the star adjusters were frozen... permanently... I actually saved the one backing plate and adjusters that nearly caught fire from the heat we applied to them while trying to chisel the adjusters out... they won't always come out no matter how much heat or hammer you put to them!

I'm in the process of trying to get my brake drum off. Right rear. I'm wondering if I have the shoes backed off far enough. It seems like I turned the stars a lot.

Here is a pic of the inspection hole at the top of the drum.



Should I be backing off the stars until they won't turn anymore?

Success

I backed off some more.
Gave the drum some good hard whacks.
Then applied a little pressure on a large screwdriver between the backing plate and drum and pulled with a wiggling motion. Moved the location of the screwdriver a few times and it came off.