This topic comes up fairly frequently when discussing fifties and early
sixties Imperials, and Square D just cited this issue as one reason he's
passing on a 1960 model, but I've neither experienced nor read about one
quite THIS bad before, so let me share my recent experience with you:
1. In 1992 I bought a 1956 Imperial, a car which had sat since 1971; soon
thereafter set out to do a brake job, especially since left rear wheel
cylinder leaked a little.
2. Noticed at that time that both rear axle threads were screwed up, and
the left side did not even have a nut. Right side came off with only the
usual hassle from the puller, but required enough force that the threads
were compressed badly. After recutting the threads with a die and
reassembling the right side, I discovered that the threaded portion was
basically cosmetic anyway, as it must have been brazed or poorly welded onto
the end of the shaft by some previous mechanic, and the threaded end simply
snapped off before I came anywhere close to torquing the axle nut to the
relatively modest figure of 150 lb-ft. I replaced the axle and everything
was fine.
3. Left side (the one that didn't even have a nut on it) did not respond to
hefty blows to the striker bar of the puller. The shaft simply compressed
the more I whacked. Application of heat to the hub/drum didn't help, and at
the time I thought, well it's not coming off, so I'll fix it later....
4. Well, OK, so it's 10 years and 20,000 miles later! What kind of a nut
would drive a car with no nut on the end of his axle with which to retain
the hub and drum, you say? Turns out I needn't have worried....
5. I try the conventional approach with the appropriate puller. The
oft-maligned el cheapo JC Whitney "professional" puller turns out to be
plenty strong, with heavy cast-iron legs for the lugs and a surprisingly
good, hard, 3/4" pulling bolt.
6. After a fair amount of torque to the pulling bolt (approx. 250 lb-ft.--I
wasn't worried about tearing up the already-destroyed axle), and giving
plenty of lateral whacks to the drum, my only accomplishment is to have sunk
the pulling bolt 1/8" into the end of the relatively soft axle.
7. I try the patience approach, just like I'd read about on the IML, giving
the hub/drum two full nights to come off on its own, while occasionally
cranking a little harder and supplying increasingly more violent impact
blows to the drum. No dice.
8. Time to try something different. How about heat? One propane
torch...yeah, right. Three propane torches....pretty hot, ought to have
expanded some. Several iterations of cooling cycles tried, quenching the
center with water, etc. How about impact? I adapt a 14-lb. slide hammer to
the puller assembly, and try that, in many more iterations and combinations
with the heat, and even higher torque to the pulling bolt. No dice.
9. OK, the heck with the drum, I'll buy a new drum. I just need this thing
off now. First I'll try heating the hub with an acetylene torch, then quick
re-apply the 14-lb. impact hammer. Ha! A few futile heating/cooling
cycles, no dice.
10. Admittedly, frustration begins to set in. But I'm not stupid (at least
when it comes to injuring myself), so my decision to go for broke and apply
absurd force and heat together is a sane one. I abandon the slide hammer,
and go back to applying steady pulling force, using my 3/4'"drive ratchet in
combination with the only cheater I had in my garage longer than 4 ft.,
which turns out be a long section of box channel from my engine hoist. Not
very elegant, but I can apply gobs of torque to the pulling bolt. Easily
1000 lb.-ft., anyway. Better wear a face shield in case that JC Whitney
puller comes apart. Wait, it's getting easier! Could it be easing its way
off? It's getting a lot easier now--yahoo! Oh, wait, Moron, all you've
done is tear off a huge section of axle shaft :-)
11. Let's cut the blasted thing off. I cut through as much of the hub as I
can with a 3" muffler cutter, thinking that will reduce the grip enough to
get it off. No dice.
12. I pull out the 2 horse angle grinder, equipped with a 9" cut-off wheel,
and cut through one side of the hub, all the way out to the drum, and all
the way through the center (completely through the diameter, and the axle
shaft) to a depth of about 3-1/2 inches. Surely with almost 4 inches cut
clean through, I should be able to get it off now. Nope.
13. OK, this hub is not coming off, but I need this axle gone, so time to
cut the drum itself off. I zip through the relatively thin metal of the
drum (relative to the massive hub, that is) in a hexagonal pattern, and
remove it from what's left clinging to the axle. At least now I have access
to the brake support nuts, etc., and after removing them and disconnecting
the rear brake line, a few modest hits from the slide hammer and I now have
my rear axle out!
14. How the heck do I free up the brake support plates that I'll need to
reuse, which are sandwiched between the axle bearing on the inboard side,
and the mangled hub on the outboard side? No easy way that I could see,
since I can't even get this mess into a press in order to apply force in the
right spot....not with those support plates in the way.
15. Some more cutting....cut off the bearing race and cage (careful not to
nick my support plate) to remove the rollers, hoping to remove everything
out the back. First I have to press pound the metal portion of the grease
seal from the backing plate, then cut it in half to remove it, but it works.
Got my parts, and I'm ready to reassemble a new axle and all new brake
parts, bearing, seals, etc. But first....
16. I'm really curious about that blasted hub. There's less than half its
length now holding it to the axle, but still I couldn't get it off. Will it
come off using a shop press, or did come sick production workers
resistance-weld it to the axle on a Friday afternoon in 1956?
17. I set it up in my 20-ton hydraulic press, and apply as much force as I
can. No dice. This is ridiculous...I grab a long cheater, and wearing a
face shield and staying out of the way as much as possible, I give the
hydraulic ram a couple more cranks. Ka-BOOM!!! Literally louder than a
gunshot--at least, say, a 12-gauge shotgun. I'm glad to see that nothing
broke, that it was, in fact, the axle flying down after being released by
its deathgrip in the tapered hub. Or should I say, a 3 inch piece of what
was left of the axle being released by a stop sign-shaped piece of hub :-)
What's cool is that the gunshot sound was made by separation of the two
pieces, not by the impact of the flying axle shaft, which was just a loud
clang.
18. I've read Dick Benjamin's advice about reassembling the drum to the
axle dry, and I'm sure he's right, but after this experience, I don't want
to deplete any more of the world's junkyard supply of 1956 Imperial or 1956
Desoto wagon (ONLY interchange!) rear brake drums, so I'd like to use
something to keep the parts from bonding so tightly again. Granted, these
looked like they were original (what a shame--drum had never even been
turned), and 46 years and plenty of rust-inducing brake fluid to help weld
them together, but even so....
19. What to use? Anti-seize compound? Grease? Does it even matter?
Best Regards,
Mike Trettin
1956 Imperial Sedan, Turquoise
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