There was a thread about a year ago about brake jobs on our CTD's, dealing with getting the rear brake drums off.

One participant advocated jacking up the rear of the truck, loosening the lub bolts, putting the vehicle in gear and revving the truck up to about 40 or so and then putting on the brakes suddenly. This was supposed to brak the drums loose and then proceed to normally replace the brake components.

My mechanic says that to pull the brake drums, we have to pull the rear axles.

Does anybody have any experience with either of these techniques and what were the results?

Jus' Plain

 

Bill:

First, you don't have to pull the rear axles to get the brake drums off.

Second, the idea put forth by Infidel to get the drums off by jacking up the rear, removing the tire, make sure that the factory installed clips that are put on the wheel lugs to hold the drum on for factory assembly ease are removed (discard as they are not required), put 1 or 2 lug bolts back on loose, run the speed up to about 30 mph and the hit the brakes hard works good. Just finished doing my brake job that way and that's how I got the rear drums off.

John (DH)

 

In the earlier model years of 89 to 93, the Dana axles did require pulling the entire hub assembly to get the drums serviced. After 94, that was changed and the drums are now separate.

I thought the tip was to spin the drums in reverse to break them loose... Hmm, I will have to do some reading.

 

The slamming on the brakes method has worked every time for me, I no longer even try with a hammer.
Forward or reverse it makes no difference. 40 mph is a little excessive though, 15 mph will do.
The reason for loosely installing one lug nut is to keep the drum from rolling down the street.

While you're in there replace the brake cylinders with the 30mm size used on GMC one tons, Napa #4637337, $13 each.

You won't believe the difference in stopping power, one of the best cheap mods you can do.

 

Yea that was one of my first mods, seems to really help the brake bias out IMO. Before it was like the rears were along for the ride, now they're actually doing something!

 

Thanks for the tips guys. I took the clips off the passenger rear wheel today and will do the other this evening or in the morning when it's cooler.

Then I can find out if I need new drums or not. 124K on these and so far as I know, never changed. Maybe if they haven't automatically adjusted I might not need new ones.

As soon as I know if I do need new drums, I can order them up, along with the new cylinders. Any opinions as to the best brake shoes?

Jus Plain

 

My brake guru (40 years at it) tells me Napa's cheapest shoes are the best on our trucks.