Rear Brake Question

[GrandJoshoneer]

I’m trying to inspect my rear brakes and possible replace shoes etc, but I can’t get the drum off. I have the E brake off and can rotate the wheel so I’m pretty sure the shoes aren’t stuck. I’ve tried the hammer trick and the penetrating fluid trick with no luck. I’m wondering if I’m even doing it right. I don’t see an inspection window in the back, and the two holes on the front aren’t threaded. My Haynes book mentioned full floating axle vs semi-floating axle. How would I know what I have? There are 4 bolts on the rear of the drum, does that have anything to do with it?

[sirrus]

Bolts in the back are for bearing/seal retainer plate. It looks like you have bolt holes on the front of the drum - find a matching bolt and screw or in there, will help break it loose

[BCRAWLER]

Betting your drums have a groove in them and the shoes are preventing removal. Try loosing the star wheel and see if that help.

[GrandJoshoneer]

The odd thing is that I don’t have a port on the back to access the star wheel. The holes on the front are two different sizes and appear to not be threaded.

[GrandJoshoneer]

I figured it out. As with most rusty things, I wasn’t banging hard enough. Got them off, now ready to do my first drum brake job.

[GrandJoshoneer]

Just had an interesting experience after rebuilding the rear brakes. I bled the side that got a new cylinder, put the tires on, cranked it up in the garage. The brake pedal was very spongy, but I thought maybe it took a little bit of braking to get it back to normal. The brake light came on, and the engine was idling very fast (after a cold start), faster than normal. I tried tapping the gas a few times to see if the carb would back down a bit, no luck. I decided to take it for a short spin, thinking that the engine would go back to idle when I put it in reverse. It didn't. I backed down the driveway going way too fast using brakes that were way too not working. I drove around the block realizing that I probably should never have left the garage. I got it to stop in the street, backed up a few feet, then put it in drive and actually burned a little rubber taking off without pressing the gas. When I got back, I bled the brakes again...the right way. It worked perfectly after that and the brake light turned off.

My diagnosis: I screwed up when I bled it the first time AND something in the carb (not sure what) got stuck and was keeping the engine at a much faster-than-normal idle. It had never done that before, and the timing of it was pretty bad!

[rocklaurence]

LOL! I hadnt seen this before but your adjustment windows were not knocked out! Those little indentations seen in the first picture you posted need to be knocked out and then a rubber plug fills it.. The backing plates are universal with indents on each side so that you knock out the window needed dependent on what side the backing plate is on. Normally, you would back off the auto adjusters to get the drum off but you didnt have the window