can't get brake drums off

[OUG]

There were no clips on it.

Does anyone know how to adjust the braking pressure front to back? I'm thinking my brakes in the rear are applying to much because i'm not even half way through my (I believe original) front brake pads.

oug

 

[87manche]

no, there's no way to adjust the pressure. The proportioning vavle does that.
If the rear brakes are not adjusting properly than pedal feel and uneven braking is the symptoms.
You say that your XJ is a 98? How many miles?
I highly doubt that the front pads are OEM, the rear shoes however generally last much longer. I took the OEM shoes off the wifes toyota at 90K miles, it had been through three front brake jobs already.

 

[OUG]

See that's what i'm talking about. The front brakes should have needed to be redone by now. I got the jeep at 36,000 miles. It now has 99,000. I've never replaced the front brakes. I can move one of the rear hubs a little but it won't come off. I'm guessing I have worn a ridge on the inside of the hub and that's what the brakes are still catching on. So, If my front brakes still look like new and the rear is wearing a ridge in the drum I'm guess my rear brakes are applying more then they should be. Does anyone know how difficult it is to adjust the proportion of front vs. rear brake pressure?

oug

 

[Matthew Currie]

See that's what i'm talking about. The front brakes should have needed to be redone by now. I got the jeep at 36,000 miles. It now has 99,000. I've never replaced the front brakes. I can move one of the rear hubs a little but it won't come off. I'm guessing I have worn a ridge on the inside of the hub and that's what the brakes are still catching on. So, If my front brakes still look like new and the rear is wearing a ridge in the drum I'm guess my rear brakes are applying more then they should be. Does anyone know how difficult it is to adjust the proportion of front vs. rear brake pressure?

oug

Until you get the drums off you cannot be sure what the ridge means. You can get a significant ridge from rust buildup too.

 

[87manche]

Until you get the drums off you cannot be sure what the ridge means. You can get a significant ridge from rust buildup too.

agreed, this all boils down to getting the drums off to inspect them. get the adjusters unstuck and retract the pads.

 

[OUG]

Success...Well Mostly

I got them done. This was my first rear brake shoe job. after three hours and the help of a 5lb hammer we the job done. The driver's side hub came off after another 5 minutes of pounding with a rubber mallet. The passengers side took another 45 minutes of pounding, heating, PB blasting, pounding some more with a 5lb hammer. But I finally got both sets of brakes and wheel cylinders done. Yippie. The "Well Mostly" portion comes in when I was putting the new driver's side hub on. I actually had to press it on. It didn't just slide on like the passanger's side. I adjusted the passanger's side and didn't have to adjust the other. Both adjusters had been taken back to their smallest point. When I got home from the shop my driver's side hub was so hot I burnt my hand yet the other one wasn't. My friend oversaw the whole thing told me to adjust it back some. Since I never adjusted it forward I can't adjust it back anymore. Any suggestions or do I just wear the brakes down and hope it doesn't warp the drum.

Thank you to everyone that posted to this thread. I did the work just fine but it just took a little confidence building to go for it. Oh and to do it myself with new drums, shoes, brake spring kit, wheel cylinder...$145. For Midas to do this with turning the old drums instead of getting new ones...$405. If anyone of you that posted is around northern Iowa... saving that kind of money.. I owe you a drink.

 

[duke000088]

Let's ressurect this one a bit...

1999 XJ with a total Newb manning the wrench. I am trying to get my drums off in order to do an inspection of the rear brake works. But my drums seem to be stuck on. Parking brake is off. No little clips on the studs. I *think* I adjusted the shoes so they are pulled in as far as possible.

The drum turns and feels quite loose on the studs. I can wiggle it pretty good. I don't really feel like it's rusted on there. Yet I can't seem to manhandle them off the studs. I took a rubber mallet to it... the drum is rattling around but just won't nudge off. I can get a pry bar around the backside between the support plate and the edge of the drum. I can pry a little and it feels like it's going to pop loose but I'm WICKED paranoid about busting something. It'll take quite a bit of prying effort and I'm not seeing the pry bar as commonly used brake tool on these forums.

My method for adjusting the shoes in was to use a screwdriver and turn the adjuster star wheel probably 20-30 clicks. It does not appear to be moving the shoes any further in with more turning.

Is there anything else I'm forgetting?

I'm not a very big dude... mechanical advantage is my best friend. Is taking a pry bar to the get between the support plate and drum The Worlds Stupidest Move?

Thanks everyone -
Duke000088

 

[5-90]

I'm not a very big dude... mechanical advantage is my best friend. Is taking a pry bar to the get between the support plate and drum The Worlds Stupidest Move?

Let's just say it's not a very bright idea. If you bend your backing plate, you'll likely have to replace it - since your brake parts won't line up properly anymore.

This might seem counter-intuitive, but if you've tried everything else, here's one more thing: Whack the perimeter of the backing plate from the inside with a rubber hammer. This should help to drive the drum off the axle shaft hub - once you break it loose, it will get easy.

Wire brush the hub and the inside of the drum hat, and apply never-seez before you put it back together. Hell, even white spray grease will help, or lithium trailer bearing grease - but never-seez has usually worked for me (the lithium trailer grease is more for if you spend a lot of time fording, since it's more water-resistant than never-seez. I think.)

 

[RichP]

And just to save any of YOUR body parts that might be in the way put a couple of the wheel lugs back on a few turns. That will keep the drum from ending up on your toes, fingers, etc. If the drum is not moving on the studs at all it's rusted to the end of the axle flange, bang, turn, bang turn, bang turn. It will come off. It took three of us with a 20lb to remove the rear wheel on my TJ, it was rusted on the drum and was a bear but after about 20 min of banging it came off. Pry bar is not a good idea, If you try power blaster don't spray it behind the drum, spray only the front, shoot onto each stud while it's in the top position then rotate it and do the next. I hate drum brakes.

 

[mitsumotors]

i can't believe no one else has said this but..... on the face of the drum there is two little threaded holes, find the right size bolts and thread them into the holes(use lots of lube), back them out a bit and thread them more, then back them out some more and thread them in more. keep doing this and doing one bolt a bit, then the other and eventually it will force the drum off. you might need to smack it with a rubber mallet every once and a while too to help it move.

 

[duke000088]

Thanks for the responses - I finally got my drums off.

Turns out I just hadn't adjusted the shoes inward enough to free them from the drums. I had cranked on the star adjuster for a while but just had to keep crankin'. As you can see from the pic, my drums had worn so much that i had a thick rusty "lip" at the edge that was not clearing the shoes.

Probably no sense turning this drums... but I felt good about getting under there and having a good inspection of everything else.

 

[stewie]

i never bother with turning drums or rotors. its just a little bit more for brand new metal. im just parinoid about brakes.

 

[RichP]

i never bother with turning drums or rotors. its just a little bit more for brand new metal. im just parinoid about brakes.

X2, when I do brakes I just get shoes, pads, rotors and drums all in one shot, I usually pick up cylinders and rear rebuild springs, etc in those packages. I hate having to run out after I get it all apart. I figure if I don't use it this time I will the next. I'm probably going to pickup two new calipers, mine are 10 years old and have had new pads at least 5 times, at some point one of them is going to freeze.

 

[keep0njeepin0n]

Smack the back of the drum on its rim with a BFH from opposite sides to gradually get it off. Then if that doesn't work, put a nut on the end of the lugs and smack the crap out of them. That'll eventually break it free.

Smack the lugs?!?!?! You're crazy man!