How do you get the rear wheel brake drums off??

[manlystanley]

Hello Everone,


My 95 Grand Caravan failed safety inspection about 6 months ago and it's been parked in my driveway ever since. I'm now finally getting around to taking care of putting in: a Master Cylinder, rear wheel cylinders and rear shoes.

My first problem is that I cannot get the rear brake drums off. I've taken off the rubber plug (in back of the wheel) and adjusted the little wheel as far as I could. This allowed the wheels to turn more freely—although I still hear a little drag from a shoe coming from inside of the drum. But the drum will still not budge. I tried spaying Liquid Wrench onto the 5 lug bolts, thinking that the bolts might be rusted to the drum. Also, I tried tapping the drum with a hammer. Nothing seems to work so far.

Does anyone have any other tips that I can try to get my brake drums off?

Thanks for your help!



Best Regards,
Stan

[Bear]

Try pulling the emergency brake cable (where it comes through the bracket aft section of car) towards the rear of the car and then vise grip it so it retains the slack and see if that helps. If that does not do it (it did not for me) I had to hammer the drum off (work around the edge of the drum and I used a rubber mallet).

[manlystanley]

Hello Bear,
Thanks for the pointers. I try them tonight.

Best Regards,
Stan

[bigj-dog]

Grab a good sized hammer, be careful not to hit the lug studs, and smack the inside part of the drum. Hit between all of the studs and don't be afraid to use roughly the same amount of force you'd use on some punk that was manipulating your daughter/hitting on your girlfriend.

[RIP]

I did what Bear did plus beat the bajesus out of it with a regular hammer, heated it with a torch, and drowned it in three brands of penetrating oil over three weeks. I sprayed the inside of the drum by inserting one of those little red spray extenders in the inspection hole till it hit the drum. Drove it for a week. Pulled the wheel off and with one wack of the hammer off it came.