I am struggling to get my rear drums off my truck. Its a 53 v8 f100 and should be pretty much stock. I made sure the e brake was loose and tried loosening the star adjuster from the back of the drum but it still does not want to come off. I pull with no luck like its still hanging.

Any ideas to try or am I missing a step? I looked in the manual and see front but no real reference to the rears.

 

It sounds like your brakes wore a grove in the drums and are catching on them. Losen the star adjuster as much as possible and tap the drums with a rubber mallot to knock it loose.

 

I had same problem on mine..drum had rusted itself to the axle shaft...finally got it off by using mouse milk penetrating fluid and applied heat...left it for a couple hrs then used a mallet.... took some time but it finally came off.

 

Loosen the adjuster as much as you can, then tap the drum all around where the brake shoes make contact with the drum. Then as you tap with the hammer on one side of the brake drum put lite pressure pulling the drum with your hand on the other side. The idea is to keep the drum straght while its slowly coming off. Otherwise they will fight you the whole way. Go easy, good luck!

 

IF, and only if, all the above does not work it is the rust on the hub as mentioned, heat the drum in circles around the wheel studs and eventually you will hear a crack / snap and it will pop of the axle snout.

 

it welds itself to the axle shaft in the middle. heat around it and have 2 pry bars on the drum and it will come off. my restored truck even sticks.

 

BIG F-ING HAMMER!!!!!!!!!!! used gently of course ...............

 

what does gently mean??? :

 

GENTLY = try not too break it too badly .......

 

I got one side off but the right rear is still killing me. The biggest issue is I can not turn the adjuster screw on the back of the drum. It seems like it is frozen and will not budge. Any ideas?

 

Just a thought, possibly you could drill the heads of the retaining pins that secure the brake shoes to the backing plates. In the process of drilling the pins the retaining springs may release if drilling causes the pin to spin. Don't drill into the backing plate. Just drill enough to weaken the head of the pin so it will break when you pry on the drum.