Does the front castle nut have to come off the spindle before the front drum will come off ??? Will the hub come with it ???
How will I know if the wheel/spindle seal is bad ??? Any additional advice is always enormously appreciated
I am almost finished with the back brakes , now need to get the front drums off ...........I think I need to unscrew the castle nut

 

Yes it doesn't need to come off in order for the drum and hub to come off. Are you going to replace the front drums?

 

this should help

 

I watched that vid and others before I posted this plea for help . This video does not show the drum being taken off......... I also looked several other places and am thoroughly confused
There is a cone shaped hub that holds the dust cover & covers the spindle stem & castle nut that appears to hold the drum on . It looks to me the cone may unscrew or may come off with the drum . I do not know.............

 

I just want to inspect the condition of the inside parts , and clean out the dust & dirt
Does the hub come off with the drum ??? The rear brakes drums were fairly easy to remove

 

Here’s what it looks like when hub is removed and shoes.


Wheel bearings are housed in the hub.



I looked in my phone to see what pictures I have of the disassembly. They’re on my old phone but also on my build post if you pull that up and scroll way down.

take your cotter pin out and the castle nut and washer. Then pull your hub off it should be caked full of grease. If you find parts of bearings you need to clean all the grease out and remove old bearings and replace them. While that’s off check for play in your king pin by grabbing the sounding and moving up and down, if you can wiggle it you need to replace your king pins like I had to. I could wiggle them like 1/4 of an inch

 

Is your truck an F100? Not sure if you came across this in your YouTube searches. This is part 1 of 3 parts.

 

Thank-you for your help !!! I may post a photo of the cone I have referenced . I still want to know if the hub comes off with the drum
When I removed the dust cap there is an enormous amount of grease covering the spindle is why I did not go any further !!! Did not want to attack that mess unless I need to ......I knew the bearing would come out and make a bigger mess........The cast iron cone looking part attached to the hub is also very confusing .....It looks to be separate from the hub , but fits very tightly and sturdy against the hub

 

Yes I watched this one also...........none seem to show the cone part........... or actually removing the hub .
I will recheck because I get in a hurry sometimes & miss details.........

 

The drum and hub is a press fit so yes the hub will come out with the drum.

 

Here is a very similar photo of the cone looking part .

Does castle nut have to come off to remove the hub & drum ??? Also is this 3 pieces , cone , hub & drum or 2 pieces hub & drum ???

Thank-you all...........so far.........ha

 

The cone you are referring to is just a part of the hub.
So to recap all you do is remove the castle nut then washer and outer wheel bearing then pull on the drum off. It will come out as one piece meaning drum and hub together.

 

THANK-YOU SO VERY MUCH
I think the cone part or hub is very slightly loose from the drum from me beating drum with a big hammer
I have beat , from the back & front , and turned the adjuster screw up I think to try to pull the shoes away from the hub............nothing has worked yet ,
Would removing the castle nut & bearing help You said nut does not have to come off , but that was before I mentioned the cone part ...
I do thank you...........

 

I want to encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and take it apart. If it’s too nerve racking because you don’t know enough and your concerned about it, have a shop do it, really won’t cost much because it really is one of the easier tasks on these old rigs. Don’t be discouraged though, we all start somewhere.

here’s what the shop manual says

 

yes remove the the cotter pin and nut that should help, if you spin that adjuster with a screw driver in the peep hole through the backing plate it will tighten the shoes on the drum. So that’s not what you want to do.