Stuck rear brake drum 1997 chevy s10

[s10rocket]

i have a 1997 chevy s10 and the rear brake drums are stuck and wont budge is there a trick i dont know of that i can use to remove them

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[619DioFan]

Regarding the stuck drum….

First- make sure the parking brake is not engaged ( just a friendly reminder )

next- using a brake tool or small screwdriver go through the backing plate access hole and turn the shoes in as far as you can ( you will know you are turning the adjuster the right way as you wont feel any drag when you rotate the drum – sometimes enough wear can occur inside the drum that a lip will form at the outside edge- this lip will catch on the shoes making the drum refuse to come off )

spray around all the wheel studs and the center of the drum with pb blasters- let the blasters soak for a while.

try removing- if still stuck use a big hammer and bang away on the drum ( dont wack it on the outside edge only hit it in the center- the flat area of the drum ) hit in different spots.

Hopefully this info helps . keep us posted.

[dreamer2355]

Excellent advice posted above C8-)

[EricTheCarGuy]

If the advice above doesn’t work the next step would be to cut the ‘nail heads’ off of the retainers on the back of the backing plate, this will allow the shoes to pivot to allow the drum to come off. You can get new pins in a hardware kit. Good luck.

[s10rocket]

Thanks for the help the parking brake was off lol ……. ill have to wait a bit and try again i got this truck and didnt bother checking the rear brakes i think they been on there a very long time ill have to get some pb blaster after it

[johnzcarz]

Quoted From EricTheCarGuy:

If the advice above doesn’t work the next step would be to cut the ‘nail heads’ off of the retainers on the back of the backing plate, this will allow the shoes to pivot to allow the drum to come off. You can get new pins in a hardware kit. Good luck.

That’s a great tip.

[3SheetsDiesel]

In all the years I’ve been doing this kind of thing for a living, it never once occurred to me to cut those nail heads off. I usually just use a bigger hammer, and if that doesn’t work, I use an air hammer to force it off. Alternately, if I know I’m replacing the drums anyway, I’ve got no qualms whatsoever about drilling a hole in the face of the drum near the edge, sticking an extension through the hole and using a hammer to drive the shoe back against the backing plate. Granted, I’ve never had to do that on drum brakes, but I’ve had to do it on several occasions to rear disc brakes that have a drum-brake style of e-brake.

[Author]

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