How to disassemble HD brake drums?
01-29-2009, 05:56 PM
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How to disassemble HD brake drums?
Good day to you all.
I call a '75 D200 my own, and since i need to get it through the annual inspection, i have to fix the asymmetric brake force at the rear wheels. And because no one knows when the drum brakes have been serviced the last time (at the vehicles production, i guess
), i opted for a quick rebuilt of all the worn out stuff thats in there. Unfortunetaly, someone at the drawing board must have smoked a lot of weed when designing these drums.
While all other brake drums i have encountered before could have been just took off with a slight blow of a small hammer, it appears that i have to remove the whole wheel hub to get these drums off.
As you can see, i already removed the axle shaft (it just came out after removing the center hub nuts), which scares me a bit, because i cant remember this is needed on all the other drum brakes i have seen before, and i didnt found any info on that case yet.
Can someone tell me how to remove the drums properly without braking something (which is always my first concern in such situations)?
I really dont know how to continue now.
I call a '75 D200 my own, and since i need to get it through the annual inspection, i have to fix the asymmetric brake force at the rear wheels. And because no one knows when the drum brakes have been serviced the last time (at the vehicles production, i guess
), i opted for a quick rebuilt of all the worn out stuff thats in there. Unfortunetaly, someone at the drawing board must have smoked a lot of weed when designing these drums. While all other brake drums i have encountered before could have been just took off with a slight blow of a small hammer, it appears that i have to remove the whole wheel hub to get these drums off.
As you can see, i already removed the axle shaft (it just came out after removing the center hub nuts), which scares me a bit, because i cant remember this is needed on all the other drum brakes i have seen before, and i didnt found any info on that case yet.
Can someone tell me how to remove the drums properly without braking something (which is always my first concern in such situations)?
I really dont know how to continue now.
01-30-2009, 02:53 AM
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78D200 is the guy to ask, Tim knows his stuff. Is there a big *** nut behind where you pulled the axle from? Are the shoes all the way out and holding the drum on ?
Last edited by Polaradude; 01-30-2009 at 02:55 AM.
01-30-2009, 03:37 AM
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What you have is full floating dana 60 rear axle. All full floating rear axles are like this. It is a great axle design (whether the engineers were smoking weed or not
) for if you break an axle shaft, you can keep going without having to stop and fix the problem right there (off-roader's dream). With semi-floating axles and none floating axles, if you break, you have to stop and fix. Full floating axles have bearings to support the whole axle wheather its broken or not.
You removed the axle properly, next there will be a large nut that you should be able to remove without any dificulty. After that a washer should come out and there should be another nut then a bearing. You can then remove the drum and hub assembaly and your brakes will be right there. Becareful though as these are a little heavier than normal drums. There will be an inner bears inside the hub. Just about any good parts store should have these bearings, but I would clean them and take a good look at them. If you see any scratches, replace them and the races. If they are good, pack them with lots of grease. To get the drum off the hub, support the hub from the inside and use a hammer and lugnut on the studs (so that you do not mess up the threads). After all 8 are out, you can bang the drum off the hub. To put it back together just reverse the process. Make sure that you grease the spindle a little before installing the hub and drum.
It is bascially like doing front brakes on an axle with manual locking hubs, very easy.
) for if you break an axle shaft, you can keep going without having to stop and fix the problem right there (off-roader's dream). With semi-floating axles and none floating axles, if you break, you have to stop and fix. Full floating axles have bearings to support the whole axle wheather its broken or not.You removed the axle properly, next there will be a large nut that you should be able to remove without any dificulty. After that a washer should come out and there should be another nut then a bearing. You can then remove the drum and hub assembaly and your brakes will be right there. Becareful though as these are a little heavier than normal drums. There will be an inner bears inside the hub. Just about any good parts store should have these bearings, but I would clean them and take a good look at them. If you see any scratches, replace them and the races. If they are good, pack them with lots of grease. To get the drum off the hub, support the hub from the inside and use a hammer and lugnut on the studs (so that you do not mess up the threads). After all 8 are out, you can bang the drum off the hub. To put it back together just reverse the process. Make sure that you grease the spindle a little before installing the hub and drum.
It is bascially like doing front brakes on an axle with manual locking hubs, very easy.
01-30-2009, 07:49 PM
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Chevys do the same thing.
02-01-2009, 07:24 PM
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K, i have done all the necessary stuff now (at least i think so) and will reassemble the whole stuff soon. But theres one last question here:
When i pulled the axle out of the wheel hub, there came about 1/10 of a litre of oil out of the hub, where the wheel bearing is, and obviously that oil was in there for a good reason. What kind of oil is that (transmission oil?) and how the hell am i supposed to get the oil in there when i assemble the axle?
When i pulled the axle out of the wheel hub, there came about 1/10 of a litre of oil out of the hub, where the wheel bearing is, and obviously that oil was in there for a good reason. What kind of oil is that (transmission oil?) and how the hell am i supposed to get the oil in there when i assemble the axle?
02-02-2009, 03:04 AM
#17
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Just check the level of the oil in the diff like the other guys said. It should be at or very close to the bottom of the plug hole. If it is just a standard open carrier (95% of them are) then you can just add in some 80-90 gear oil, or you can just pull the whole cover off, clean the inside and the cover, add some new RTV to the sealing area of the cover and get three quarts of 80-90 gear oil to put in there.
The oil in the hub is just from the diff area. The oil will always travel down to the ends of the shafts which is a good thing. It lets you know that there is enough oil in the diff still.
The oil in the hub is just from the diff area. The oil will always travel down to the ends of the shafts which is a good thing. It lets you know that there is enough oil in the diff still.
02-03-2009, 03:57 AM
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