Stuck drums? Well, THIS works!

[GPW1263]

Nobody likes to have to fight the fight that comes with removing a stuck brake drum...particularly on larger vehicles. Recently, I had cause to move a derelict (and wheel-less) M37 that had been sitting on, and then IN the ground for about 20 years. It was to be trailered away and given to another party. To make a long story short, we got it jacked up and back on a set of wheels and then found that almost but one of the drums were stuck. Likely as not, whatever was going on in the drums was as a result of being rust-welded together (and probably also silted in).

Here's what finally worked.

1. Axles and front hub drive flanges were removed.
2. Spindle nuts were backed off and locked back down into their new position leaving the bearings very sloppy.
3. The M37 was then pulled sideways in order to introduce lateral loads in order to cock the hubs over on the spindles in an effort to stress and then break whatever bond was taking place within the drum.
4. The M37 was then pulled. In our particular case, the ground it stood on was also silt and the tires had very little purchase.

(One tire broke free at after the pull and began rolling. Another just slid on the soft dirt.)

5. On the most defiant wheel, success was achieved by hooking a chain to the lower hand hole and running it forward to an anchor point (in our case, another truck with brakes set and wheels chocked). A second, longer chain was hooked to the upper hand hole and we pulled it rearward with another truck. The result was that the wheel rotated until the hand holes with the chains ended up generally opposite one another with the spindle in between. We repeated the process until approximately 180 degrees of rotation was achieved.

Cheers,
GPW1263