Most of the complaints that I have read over the years about this procedure seem to come from people that are doing it manually.
I use an air impact wrench and they fly right off without need to brace the drum.
If you are doing it manually, you should have a straight piece of metal (I use a crow bar) going through the lug nuts that are on their studs. The bar goes out and contacts the undercarriage and prevents the drum from turning. You can use a jack to hold it snug while you pound. Hitting the tool with hammer blows is very inefficient, though. You could also get a hardened socket and a long breaker bar set-up and twist it with leverage instead of hammer force. Make certain to grease the threads of the tool.
The impact wrench will hit the center threaded spindle much harder and many more times than you can. I have done 6 axles, including one that had been outside for 25 years, and they all came off pleasantly enough. If you don't have an air compressor, I'd highly reccommend one as an essential car tool.
I had done my 61 a couple of weeks ago,
1- have the axle nut on the axle to help from damaging the axle threads with the puller & keeps the drum from flying off later.
2- my car was close to the floor- so I had an extra breaker bar to slip between the wheel studs to block the drum from turning.
3- Heat- you need to heat the tapered part in the drum that meets the axle, but not the axle shaft itself. Just direct the heat around and towards the inside center of the drum tapered area where the nut holds the drum on. I tried without heat & done nothing.
I also pulled the axles while that far with new brakes -cylinders and all- and installed new inner axle seals. More work, but it is all done right. Rob Kidd 61 2-dr / 65 Convertible
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, October 26, 2004 8:52 PM
Subject: IML: Rear Brake Drums on a 61 Crown
Evenin' all:
I was hoping to get some advice on removing the rear brake drums on my car.
I have read the service manual and I have looked at the write-ups on the site, but still I am having zero luck.
I have tried the drum puller like the one described on the site but nothing comes loose. In fact, now the whole axle turns when I bear down on the bolt on the drum puller after pounding on the da&n thing.
I have backed off the adjusting cams and used as much penetrating oil as I have on hand and the dern thing doesn't budge.
What am I doing wrong?
Any advice?
Joe
61 Crown Southampton
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