Brake Drums stuck on - help

[MrJ]

I have a 76 Argosy MH.

Good news is that the previous owner replaced the back brake pads.

Bad news is that they didn't turn the drums.

There's a lip on the drum and I can't get it off to have it turned. I tried to get the drum off and I've obviously did something.. Now I have a leak and no back brakes.

Anyone have a suggestion or pix on how to get the brakes off? I know you're supposed to stick something in there to back off the pads.. Autozone have this tool for borrowing? Saw something from Harbor freight, but I donno.



Anyone know were to get the rubber inserts for the adjustment holes on the back of the drums.. Mine are missing.

thanks all!

[scamp]

The rubber plug for your drum brakes backing plate are available at most automotive part stores, to get the drums off you need to back off the brake adjuster through the hole in backing plate , you can use a flat blade screwdriver to turn the adjuster wheel .but to back it off you need to turn it in the direction it doesn't want to turn by inserting a other smaller screwdriver to push away the self adjuster lever at bottom of adjuster wheel and while holding self adjuster lever then rotate the adjustment wheel, and your drum will come once you backed it up enough to clear the ridge on your drums. As for fluid leaking you must have hydraulic brakes and you must of caused one of the wheel( brake cylinders to pop a piston out ,if the piston seal is not damaged you can put it back in clean the brake shoes if not soaked and bleed air from system once brakes are all installed and drums are back on ,oh don't forget to adjust your brakes.

Don

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, more than likely if your drums are grooved enough to make them hard to remove, you will most likely need new drums. They will be to far gone to machine. Most drums have a maximum of .060" and some have .090" for machining.


Note: Usually the maximum diameter is marked on the drum.

[batman]

MrJ,
You have two pieces of good advice from Don and from Bob. Follow that and you should be back on the road in no time.

-Dennis

[BradB]

If fluid has been leaking I would probably replace the wheel cylinder to prevent it from happening again. Unless there was another reason that it leaked!

[scamp]

Yes replace the wheel cylinder if it was leaking before you touched it and if it was leaking before you touched it the brake shoes should also be replace as the brake fluid has soaked into the shoe lining , but if you got one of the shoe hold down pins broken off by trying to pull the drum off with the large ridge on the drum you have simply cause the piston of the wheel cylinder to pop out the only thing holding it in is the rubber dust seal (that's when the shoes are off)the wheel cylinder is not complicated you have two pistons with a seal on each end a spring in the center of them with dust seals on each end of the piston. The piston only goes in one way ( look at the other side) or google it

[GCinSC2]

Confirmed wheel cyl leak or any chance it is an axle seal leak? Not familiar with this rig, just a thought.

[scamp]

It could be a axle seal leak because after playing around the owner ( Mrj)says he had no brakes, he could have gotten grease on the shoes,I'm not familiar with this trailer as it maybe has hydraulic brakes and if it does I'm betting on the wheel cylinder leaking.but usually if you get grease on the shoes they usually still work but some cases less effective and some times they tend to grab and hold even after releasing the brake pedal depending on temperature and the amount of grease on shoes and you can get some smoke from the brakes as the grease burns . And I don't think this rig has a oil filled axle so we don't have to think of that possibility !

[BradB]

I think we are discussing an Argosy motorhome from the original post.

[MrJ]

yes, Motorthome.

Brakes didn't leak before I touched it..

Thanks for all the help, I'll get on it now!

[scamp]

Oh I guess I missed (MH for motor home )I didn't know they made one ,I am a retired honda tech ( and g.m. Plus worked on others for 33 years)and for years honda has put letters after a model and this is what got me , for example honda accord LX ,The LX is the trim line it's the middle trim level ,DX is bottom trim level and EX is top trim level, this is not the same in all countries, and on this forum when someone writes T V I keep thinking television! Sorry for the confusion , so there are two things you can do #1 try to back off the adjuster from the back of backing plate like I said in a earlier post ,sometimes the adjuster seizes and still can't get the drum off due to the ridge on the drum so the next step is to cut off the brake shoe hold down pins or brake them off this can be done by grabbing on the back side of backing plate the head of the hold down pin with visegrips pliers and pulling out on the pin then cut the shaft of the hold down pin with side cutter pliers or you can try the more grude way is to pry the drum off with a screwdriver or pry bar ,don't damage backing plate or drum usually it doesn't take much force as the pin retainer is not that strong once off you will have to replace the brake hardware the hold down pins etc. it come in a kit, I'm assuming when you were playing around trying to get drum off the first time your brakes did not work immediately and oil leaked out ,did your brake pedal seem like it went to the floor ?if this is the case I'm going to say you popped out a wheel cylinder piston, in this case like I said earlier it doesn't need to be replaced just put it back together ! Unless it was leaking earlier,or you damaged the piston seal,most of the time the brake fluid comes out and goes strait down onto the brake adjuster and misses the shoes or very little goes on the shoes, so you might get away with cleaning the shoes as long as you didn't rotate the drum ,but if you post a picture I can tell you if they need replacing if worn out or damaged.

Don