Drum Removal

[FreeBeeTony]

I have 10" drum brakes on my Venture trailer.
The brakes on the right side are locked-up.

Does the castle nut need to be removed in order to remove the drum?

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Drum Removal

look at the hub with the wheel removed. If there is a cross head screw then the drum comes off the hub when the screw is removed, If there is no screw then the drum is part of the hub and the castle nut is holding it on.

Top/bottom of the backing plate for the drum there should be a adjustment bolt that normally has a square head. Back that bolt out 3-4 turns then tap with a hammer around the outside of the drum and see if you can break it free as the hub will not come off with the brakes locked or rusted on.

 

[Lou C]

Re: Drum Removal

In most cases yes the drum and hub are one unit and the castle nut/spindle nut has to come off. The other thing is to release the adjuster on that side as much as you can to free the shoes from the drum. If worse comes to worse you can spray PB Blaster or Kroil in the joint between the drum and the backing plate if the shoes are rusted to the drum. Also you could take a 1/2 drive ratchet or breaker bar, put the appropriate size lug nut on one of the lugs and try to turn it backwards to break the drum free (if they are free backing brakes). If you stick with drum brakes try to get the zinc plated or galvanized ones from Pacific Trailers because I have found that they do not rust as bad as the regular cast iron ones do.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Drum Removal

I have yet to see a trailer drum that is not integral with the hub so you need to take the castle nut off and remove the drum just like you would if you were removing a hub.

Good luck backing off the adjustment screw if you are having corrosion issues. If you have enough corrosion that the shoe are rusted to the drum, that adjuster will be tough to move as well.

Like I said in your other thread, I am glad I never have to deal with drum brakes again.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Drum Removal

if your brakes are hanging, most likely the bores of the slave cylinders are rusted. once you have it apart, pull the actuator rod and boot and look. if it is rusted, your looking at new cylinders.

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Drum Removal

Already have been hitting it with PB Blaster.
Need to remove the castle nut and try again.......supposed to rainthe next few days.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Drum Removal

no need for PB blaster. pull the castle nut, then pull. worse case there is a groove worn from the shoes and you have to replace everything. FWIW - new backer plates with slave cylinders, hardware and shoes costs less than new shoes and only slightly more than new actuators.

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Drum Removal

Got the drum off tonight.
Planning on replacing the whole assembly.............should I go w/ galv?
Looks like I can get both sides for ~$100.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Drum Removal

plan on replacing your master cylinder as well.

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Drum Removal

Do you mean the actuator?

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Drum Removal

The master cylinder inside of it. How old is it?

 

[Lou C]

Re: Drum Removal

Go with galvanized backing plates with aluminum wheel cylinders and do what I did to mine to keep the water out of the cylinders like I said in the other thread.
Take a careful look at the master cyl, take the cap off and shine a bright light in there, if it looks like rusty brake fluid in there I'd replace it, you'll have less trouble in the long run. Some master cylinders you can rebuild some it pays to buy new. I have a 9 year old Tie Down Model 66 actuator that works well still.
How rusty are the brake drums? If they are bad, I'd consider either getting new zinc coated ones from Pacific Trailers, or you could try Champion Trailers, they used to sell zinc coated Tie Down drums (what I have, still in pretty good shape, 9 years old like the actuator).

Believe it or not, these drums, after 9 years and getting dunked in salt water about 4 times a season, have less rust than the brake rotors on my vehicles after about the same time.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Drum Removal

Getting galvanized brake drums is a waste of time, in my opinion, because where the shoes hit is just plain ole untreated metal no matter how the rest of the drum is treated..

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Drum Removal

Getting galvanized brake drums is a waste of time, in my opinion, because where the shoes hit is just plain ole untreated metal no matter how the rest of the drum is treated..

correct on the shoe contacting the drum, however the parts that you dont want rusting together tend to rust together on the painted ones. plus the galvanized is only about $2 more. so why not.

I have had both dipped in salt water, and the painted stuff lasts 1 year at best. the galvanized much longer.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Drum Removal

Getting galvanized brake drums is a waste of time, in my opinion, because where the shoes hit is just plain ole untreated metal no matter how the rest of the drum is treated..

I thought zinc (galvanized coating) was a anode and worked in the same fashion to some extent so a few bucks extra seems like a worth while extra.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Drum Removal

I thought zinc (galvanized coating) was a anode and worked in the same fashion to some extent so a few bucks extra seems like a worth while extra.

Zinc is a sacrificial coating. It will start to turn white, then when the zinc is all depleted, the parts will start to corrode.

the paint used on painted brake parts has none of these properties

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Drum Removal

There is no part of the drum that is coated that will get stuck on anything. I am not saying that you shouldn't get the coated ones but its not really going to do much. The most its going to do is to prevent some rust drips on your driveway. The backing plate is another story. There is a benefit there.

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Drum Removal

I really don't want to spend to much $$$ as I only put ~4mi on the trailer/year.

Thinking of flushing the master cylinder by just taking the lines off the wheel cylinders/working the actuator and see what comes out.
The trailer is only 8 years old and probably has less than 100mi on it.

 

[Lou C]

Re: Drum Removal

You can try flushing it with fresh brake fluid into a bottle and look at what comes out. If its clean then you can install your brakes and see if it builds hydraulic pressure.
And as far as drums rusting not rusting, unless you get stainless brake rotors, you will have the exact same issue with them, as with drums, they rust, corrode chunks come off etc. I see a lot of boat trailers around here and most newer ones have disc brakes and most of them, unless they are used all the time have very rusty rotors. My point with the zinc coated drums, it seems that you have less problems with the shoes getting stuck to the drum when its in storage. Tony if you don't have a flush system I'd add one, that is one thing it does help with. It does not help with the wheel cylinder seizing issue or the adjuster corroding issue. Withe the galvanized backing plates, the only place I seen any corrosion at all is on the adjuster and on the parts that retain the shoes to the backing plate. I coat all that with triple guard grease when they are new and they don't really rust. The backing plates themselves have no rust just like a galvanized trailer.

 

[FreeBeeTony]

Re: Drum Removal

Pulled the master cylinder today............any hints on where to gat a new one?
the actuator is a Tie Down 70