Brake Drums Won't Come Off

[aphaynes]

Bare with me here. The only car with drums I have ever dealt with is a 78 Buick Regal. Those drums just pulled right off. Having not checked the brakes on my 2WD 65 GMC 1000 since I got it; and because it is pulling to the left if I hit the brakes hard, I figured it was time to take a look. Problem is after pulling the front wheel I could not get the drum to come off. It spins freely, so I assume it is not the shoes causing the problem. However, there seems to be three rivets in the drum; shown here at 2, 6, and 10 o'clock...



Do these have to be removed? I find it hard to believe that a 49 year old vehicle has never had the drums pulled.

Thanks.

[Andice]

Try this: Remove dust cap in center of hub and then take out cotter pin. A castellated nut should then be easily removed. Having never taken my hubs off I am left to assume that the three big rivets attach the drum to the hub.

[GMCDAC]

I just ground off the heads and pulled off the drums on my '55 GMC. I had new drums to put on it. I also figured out at that time that some newer wheels will hit the rivet heads before seating against the drum completely. Like Andice said, the hub may have been removed to service brakes in the past.

DAC

[aphaynes]

Thanks guys. Guess I'll have to pick the option I want to try.
Really didn't want to have to pull the hub just to check the brakes. LOL. It's pouring rain now so I have some time to think about it.

[60ShortStpeGMC]

I see this thread is a bit stale, but don't grind those rivets off unless you want to seperate the drum from the hub.

Pull the dust cover, remove the cotter pin and castellated nut and slide the assembly off the spindle like the Andice said. It is far less work than it sounds.

It's a PITA to post images here, so instead I'll point you to my craigslist ad that has images of 69 front drum/spindles so you can see an example of a disassembled drum:
http://sacramento.craigslist.org/pts/4774782732.html

[aphaynes]

Thanks. I have not touched it yet due to holiday traveling.

[AZKen]

It's just the spindle nut holding front hubs on. As said, don't remove rivets. It's a normal assembly you have. It will come right off. A bearing may fall out the front and the inner bearing is held in by the seal. The manual, any manual, will show all that and tell how to remove.

[aphaynes]

I guess I don't understand how taking the whole hub off allows the drum to then come off. I'll look through my manuals when I get home.

[AZKen]

It's simple. The hub and the drum is one big honk'in piece. The drum is PERMANENTLY riveted to the hub. To service the shoes you pop the cap, take out the cotter, unscrew the castle nut and pull it off. The only time you de-rivet is to add disc brake kit. Sometimes you pull it off and it leaves the seal hanging and rear/inside bearing stuck on the spindle. If so, be careful how you proceed.

[aphaynes]

Thanks. It'll be another week before I get to play with it now that it gets dark so early.