Swagged Drums

Hi All,
I'm rebuilding my front and rear ends. I'm converting the fronts to discs and just redoing the rears. But how do you seperate the drums from the hubs when they're swagged? I read a post that said you need a cutter. Do you have to cut the heads off of the studs?
Thanks,

 

Which drum? The 9in drums I have had 3 flat head screws holding them together but my 11s did not.

 

They're 10" drums, no screws. The reason I need to get the rears apart is because the pass. side hub is cracked.

 

there is a special tool of some sort....I am faced with the same problem as I have a set of 11" brakes to swap on. I plan on either taking them to a machine shop or finding a spare set of hubs.

If you are already replacing the hub, maybe a new set of drums is as easy as anything if yours have some age on them.

 

I used an air cut-off wheel and cut around each stud - then I replaced the drums @ $25 each from CarQuest. There is supposed to be a special deep drill/hole saw kind of thing that just cuts the "swag", but I couldn't find one. It turns out I needed new drums anyway. If you are VERY careful you can do it this way without cutting the studs.
Good luck though, I needed to replace a couple of studs too...

 

Thanks for the input guys. I'm thinking MOP is right. Since I have to change hub anyway, may as well save myself the trouble and change the drums too.:stout:

 

could use a hammer and drive the old ones out.

 

What's the worst I can do, break it? I'll give it a try.

 

AJH,
I had to grind my drum around the studs and grind the studs to get my 9 inch drums off. The drums were history but I was moving up to 11 inch brakes. I also replaced the studs on the hub. Be sure to cut or grind the studs flat with the hub before pushing the old studs out. If you don't, you can expand the hub stud hole and the new studs will be loose on the hub. Even worse, you can crack the hub.

Green

 

I'll bite...what does swagged mean?

 

Not swagged, swaged. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=swaged&r=66

 

There is a tool to cut swags. You will have to find a Mac or Snap On(ect...) tool truck to purchase one. It is a thick hardened hole saw that chucks up in your drillpress or hand drill. You simply cut the top of the swag off, then drive the stud out. This leaves the drum intact. To be honest, I believe swagging was an assembly procedure, since nobody reswags replacement drums, and many vehicles come stock with removable drum assemblies.

 

I went through the same thing. I had the studs pressed out of my drum and hub together so that I could replace the hubs. First I tried to install the studs into the hub by slipping them through the hole and putting a nut on and just tightening the nut down. It didn't work. I had to have the studs pressed in. Then I realized that the drum wasn't tight on the studs. Seems that when I pressed the (swaged) studs out that because of the swaging process the stud was a tiny bit larger than the hole in the drum and by pressing them out without first removing the swaged part I made the hole in the drum larger than the replacement studs. I had to buy new drums then have them pressed onto the studs.

Mine were 10" brakes.

 

From the Photo Archive:

http://www.earlycj5.com/gallery2/v/picBank/album_002/brakes+007.jpg.html
http://www.earlycj5.com/gallery2/v/picBank/album_002/swaged+1.jpg.html

Jim

 

Thanks for all of the replies guys. I appreciate the help. I tried pounding them out the other day and it just bent the drum. Lesson learned. I had to replace the hub anyway. I'll get some new drums and call it good.
Thanks All

 

We see this on the board from time to time. I ruined my original hubs removing my 10" drums. I carefully cut around each stud with a dremel and then pounded them out, still enlarged the holes so the new studs were loose. I actually drove it this way for about 2 years!! Don't do as I do.

If your drums are swaged, they are probably the originals and over 25 years old. The cost of the cutter probably isn't worth saving 25 year old parts when it won't be used again. As someone said, no one swages replacement parts.

I think the official "call" from the board should be if you are into it that deep, just replace the old stuff with a new hub and drum, or switch to 11" drums or discs. They aren't that expensive when looking at the big picture, and I WISH someone would have given me that advice 7 years ago.

 

Glad you figured out which way to go. We swapped drums to discs on the 66, and at first tried beating them off the hubs, cooking them with the torch while freezing the hubs with cold spray to shrink, pressing them with my arbor press, etc., without success. I finally plopped them onto the cheapy Harbor Freight press at work, and they popped right off the hubs. The drums were flattened out before they let go, so that tells you how tight they were on. Hubs were undamaged. After seeing that, I'm going to buy one of those presses next time they go on sale.

 

Guys, I hate to sound like an idiot, but if the drums are so hard to get off, how is someone supposed to service the brakes?:? You know, turn the drums, replace the shoes, clean stuff, wheel cylinder, etc. Am I missing something here? Is this how they had to do it "back in the days", use a special cutter to get them off just to put new shoes in?

 

You just have to take the hub loose instead. Just a few bolts from around the lockouts, then a couple of nuts on the hub. It's pretty easy.

Jim