Left drum brake dust cover removal

[Daniel Brunner]

Help! I‘m about to burn that piece of crap to the ground.
I removed the right drum brake cover easily by turning the star screw.
Drivers side is completely stuck and the screw is worn from 2 hours of unsuccessful trying. I read that one must be tuned from the bottom up but it makes no sense teethwise.
Are there any tricks?
My hands are bloody it‘s 48°F here and my neighbors looking outside the window because of my screaming…

 

[oldbee]

Manual brakes or self-adjusting style? At the worst,cut off heads of hold downs on backside of backing plates.

 

[dadsbee]

"Dust cover"... ??
One star wheel is left hand thread, the other is right.

 

[Rishi]

Front or rear drum? I once forgot about the bearing holding the front drum in place, and attempted to remove it without removing the bearing (front-only)

It can be confusing, but the left-handed adjuster goes on the right side of the car. But it isn't essential to know or worry about that.

Unless a previous act put the wrong direction adjuster in there, you turn the star adjuster wheel upward (through the slot of the backing plate) to loosen it. Using a screw driver in the other slot to hold the spring away from the star wheel can help you get a feel if you're tightening it or loosening it.

If the car has been stored, and the wheel not turned, it may be lightly stuck to the shoes. Giving the drum a whack with a mallet may make things loose.

 

[QuickBpBp]

"Dust cover"... ??
One star wheel is left hand thread, the other is right.

Sounds like he is referring to the brake drum but probably the bearing dust cap… if not Wait till he tries to put gas in it and fume holder won’t unscrew… lol

 

[terrywalker]

I'm going to take a guess here which may be wrong. I'm guessing the brakes are adjusted all the way out against the drum and you can't pull the drum off and the teeth on the adjuster wheel are now worn off. I'd grind the heads off the shoe keeper pins on the backside of the dust backing plate as Oldbee said. This will release the shoes. There's two on the back, one for each shoe. I'd disconnect the brake line from the wheel cylinder and remove the two bolts holding the wheel cylinder to the back. If it's the rear drum, the parking brake cable may cause a problem but with the pins ground off and the wheel cylinder loose, you should be able to pull the drum and shoes out some as an assembly to see what going on. If its the front drum assembly it's the same except you will need to disconnect the brake hose from the wheel cylinder after the drum bearing, nut, etc is removed. Good luck.
Terry W.

 

[Daniel Brunner]

Thanks to all of you guys. I had some help from my neighbor just 10 minutes after I wrote the thread. I don’t know how but he removed the stuck drum. I was installing a diff locker today so the axles (and drum brake cover) needed to went out. I was nearley finished but then the sleeve over the spring bounced out…. Now I have to look for it with a metal detector there are thousands of fallen leaves around me. What a day….

 

[terrywalker]

I'm glad you got it off. Clean all the brake parts and get the moving freely especially the star adjuster. Replace if worn. If possible, get the drum machined just to remove a ridge caused by brake shoe wear thereby making the drum slide on /off easier.
Terry W.