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I know the brake components aren’t holding anything, axle rotates freely. Brake pads were rusted to drums when I started. I think I may need to get a large drum puller, I don’t have anything big enough. Once I got everything I could off, I soaked fasteners and surface between axle and drum with PB Blaster penetrating oil.
Wow, never seen one stuck that bad! Can you reach thru your opening with a wrench and remove axle retaining nuts and remove drum/ axle together? Then easier to separate on bench?
I had the same (kind of) problem one time. But it wasn't rust holding the drum on. As it turned out it was my first time dealing with self adjusters on a donor Dana 60 the PO installed on my truck. The star wheel rotation to loosen is backwards, and there is that lock tab that you are supposed to push out of the way to loosen the drums. None of this I knew about at the time. Looking on You Tube for help, I found a guy who made his own drum puller out of an old gear puller and a 12" long piece of 2 X 4. I made it and it worked for me.
Anyway here is what it looks like. There are notches saw in the end with a 1/4" bolt that feeds through for the puller "claws". They are not pictured here as I don't know what I did with them the time. Been 10 years since I used this last.
Hope it helps! Otherwise if you have a good die grinder and of course eye protection you could maybe cut them apart on pieces.
Wow, never seen one stuck that bad! Can you reach thru your opening with a wrench and remove axle retaining nuts and remove drum/ axle together? Then easier to separate on bench?
I’m contemplating drilling through drum at axle flange hole, then I’d have easier access to the nuts. Thinking about it, I also have ratcheting wrenches, if one fits that could be easier.
Adjusters were rusted and wouldn’t move, through adjustment hole, no way to back brake pads off. Once I cut drum where adjusters were located I saw the rust and cut the adjusters in half. Drum still wouldn’t move. Ended up wedging an air chisel between the brake pads and drum to get everything loose.
Heat may help now, also penetrating oil over night, I don’t have a flame wrench currently.
They were definitely stubborn, you could see the drums moving around the studs, however the center wasn’t moving. Once the drum started to flex I was tapping with a hammer didn’t help. Kept pulling until the drum finally popped, sounded like a 22 round.
Last edited by Christopher2; Apr 19, 2026 at 04:40 PM.
These drums stick to the axle like they were welded. The way to get them off without breaking the drum is take a puller like shown above and put some pressure on it then heat around the axle and it will pop right off.
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