front drum removal now what?

I am clueless now as to how to get my drum off so that I can but new wheel cylinders on the front. This is a 55 (at least taht what I was told) cj5. What size is that nut on there so that I can go out and get one. it seems like its 2 inches or so. I was readign some old posts and it seems that if I get this nut then the whole hub and drum will slide off. is this right or is there more to it.

 

the nut is 2 1/16", you should be able to knock the drum loose from where you are with some gentle persuasion along the outside rim with a rubber or wood mallet. looks quite rusty, probably stuck. the shoes may have also worn a ridge on the back edge that will give you a fight. I would not recommend trying to take the hub and drum off together unless nothing else will work. $.02

 

there are 3 rather large phillips screws also holding the drum on. When I took mine off of my 55, I had plenty of trouble because the drums were rusted to the hub pretty bad. You might use a hammer to hit the face of the hub and break it loose, BUT DON'T DAMAGE THE STUDS.

 

Ok you got my attention, I never noticed the 3 holes before, none of my drums have had the screws, but all have the holes for them. what do they look like?

 

They have a phillips head and have no point onthem. They are about onehalf to three quarters inch long

 

I haven't noticed the screws but I will look. It also seems the studs are almost premently set into the drum itself. thats what is confusing me. it dosen't look like the drum will come off and leave the studs still attached to the hub. I beat on it a little with a mallet but I will continue to try. maybe I will try the other side too. on the rear I had one side give me a hard time with the puller adn the other almost come right off like it should.


everything is a little rusty but I'll tell ya I just put a locker in my 97 tj adn spent more time trying to get some of those bolts off then I ever have any of my classic cars.

 

do they have a round, pan or flat head?

 

More like a pan. concaved ont the end on the studs

 

there just round. didn't think there was screws there. maybe I will try to scrape some paitn and rust away to see if I can find somthing

 

your best bet is some careful work with a hammer. if those screws arent there, then rust is the only thing holding the drum on. don't underestimate it though.

 

Just like Baby Johns was in the other post about the wheelstuds.

 

You guys just like to work to hard, I would have cut them studs out the 1st time I had the wheel off.

 

Patience. Much patience. It's soooo much cheaper than violence! My $.02 = start right now with penetrating oil where the hub and drum meet. Liberally. Even WD-40 will work, eventually. Be patient. Now tap the area you oiled ( tap on the hub, please). Just enough to work the oil into the space between the hub and drum. DO NOT hit the studs!!! If they are swaged (don't think so) you will will regret it. Probably ruin the hub. If they are not swaged, you will regret it. You wind up pushing them though the hub, and you get to put them back. If you are separating the hub and drum at this point, pry with reasonable force between the drum and backing plate. More patience, here. Your setup looks like you need to attend to cleanup duty, so you'll probably end up taking the hub off anyway. It won't hurt to look. Personally, I'd remove the 2 1/16 nut and pull both the hub and drum together; you can separate them much easier on the bench. If you don't buy the 2 1/16 spindle nut socket, you can just persuade them off with a small chisel and a bit of the hammer treatment. Patience and gentle persuasion will satisfy your questions. Been there, done that. Mine (61) weren't swaged. Did I mention patience? Trust me on this one, if nothing else; patience is like money in the bank.

 

Trust me...if they're swadged on them take the whole drum and hub off together. I was advised to buy the spindle nut socket and didn't. I just took a flat screw driver and hammer and tapped the corners of the big nut with the screw driver and backed the nut off. Probably ought to follow others advise when reassembling though and buy the socket.

And on those 3 screws, you might have to have an impact driver to get them broke loose. But if you take the hub and drum off together there's no need to even separate them.