I have recently acquired a 1973 Ford maverick 4door sedan with 4way drums, the front drums are the original ones I suspect and I've tried everything to get them off, I need to replace the shoes and drums obviously, anyone has advice on how to take the front drums off or should I just give up and take the $500 hit the shop wants to charge me? Your input is Much appreciated. Thank you.
Assuming wheel nut is removed, heat is just a waste of time and will probably cause other damage. Other than outer bearing seized to spindle, there is NOTHING in center spindle that's going to hold wheel. If wheel somewhat rolls, then the brake shoes are too tight on drum(if they are seized wheel won't roll). There is a star wheel adjustment at bottom of backing plate that allows tightening or loosing of shoes. OOPs I forgot to mention the adjustment is accessible through a opening that should have a rubber plug. Auto adj cable on this one is broken.
Welcome to forum! My opinion! When drums are finally removed; I would consider converting that drum setup to front disk. Don't have to worry about adjustments, pulling to one side when wet.
Welcome to the forum! Why not unbolt the backing plate, disconnect the brake line and slide the entire assembly off the spindle?
Tom is correct. Down low on the backing plate is a slot, should have a rubber plug in it. With a screwdriver you can loosen the self adjusting screw.
Agreed with those who point to loosening the shoe adjustment. A worn out drum which hasn't been resurfaced on a brake lathe will develop a ridge inboard from the shoes. When you try to pull it off the diameter of that ridge can be smaller than the diameter of the shoes, and when it catches the situation will get worse because the shoes will rock on their mounting.
The picture I posted is of my '69 Fairlane, bought just two weeks ago(exact same brakes on a Maverick). Had a clunk in RF when applying brake so I knew adj was loose, obvious when I found broken cable.
Thanks for the Info everyone, and i also tried the adjustment wheel, still no luck. I'm just probably gonna wait a couple weeks and take it to the shop.
A shop is gonna charge you more than the whole car is worth. If the wheels spin, you can get the drums off with some effort.
as Crazy said...if the wheel spins...you (we) are almost there... are both drums doing the same thing?