Rear Brake Drum Removal

Any suggestions on removing a rear brake drum that is scored and probably grooved which does not allow me to pull it off. There are no adjuster slots to adjust the shoes down so that it would release the drum from the shoes. I was thinking of burning it off with a torch but don't know if it would cause damage or if I could cut it off with a saws-all. :mad:

generally if you use a big enough hammer and hit as hard as possible between the studs repeatedly
all around it will come loose that is where it siezes
around the axle

Any suggestions on removing a rear brake drum that is scored and probably grooved which does not allow me to pull it off. There are no adjuster slots to adjust the shoes down so that it would release the drum from the shoes. I was thinking of burning it off with a torch but don't know if it would cause damage or if I could cut it off with a saws-all. :mad:


If you have a torch, you might heat up the drum. This will cause the drum to expand making it easier to knock off with a hammer.

are you SURE there isn't an adjustment hole? The adjustment hole in mine had a soft plug in the hole, but it was there.

alpat, your in trouble there buddy, there is no way to get around that except for what 1thunder said. Get a very big hammer and a large flathead screwdriver for prying, eventually it will come off, be careful to not damage the backing plate though.


Note to self in future: Don't wait for brake shoes to cut grooves in drum before servicing :P

As far as i know there is definately a hole in the back of the drum for the adjuster. However you may have a mod or the adjuster is off, in which case i have found this works quite well. Get a screwdriver and some good snips or something of the like, and pull the two little pins out that hold the brake shoes/springs on to the wheel. Do this one at a time. use the screwdriver to pry it out a bit then snip or cut of the flat head. (maybe needle nose plyer may work instead of screwdriver to pull it out if more efficient. Do this with both pins. your brake shoes are only barely attached now. Pry that drum off and it should bring most of the parts with it but usually doesnt break anything unless there is a lot of corrosion. Should be easy to get the drum off now as there is nothing really holding the drum on except the lug bolts and some weak spring tension. What you are doing is removing the main part that is holding the brake shoe to the drum. You will need new pins of course but you can buy a new set of pins/springs/etc for both wheels for about five bucks as its wise to replace all those parts anyways. Thought i would share this as i did just what was posted earlier and noticed the pins has snapped when i pryed the drum off with a lot of force. The next time i had this problem, adjuster was off and pads were out, i just snipped of the flat head on the back of the wheel and took only a minute. Good luck.