Swaged vs. non-swaged front brakes???

Greetings List,

This weekends project was to inspect the front brakes cause they weren't working that good . Got the d/s off with a bit of effort, but the p/s is stuck. No amount of heat and beating was getting it off short of destroying the drum. I searched the fourms and was wondering if one side was swaged and the other not? Can you guys advise? They are 10" drums and don't look too bad.

Thanks,

 

Hard to tell for sure from the pic but it appears the first pic the studs are either swaged or pressed into the drum. At this point to avoid potential damage I'd pull the drum and hub as an assembly to check the brakes. Good time to inspect/repack the bearings also. Nickmil

 

Stopped down to the local garage this AM and asked my mechanic and he said to just give it a good wack:twisted: When I got home before I took the 8lb hammer and gave it a couple of shots, but it still didn't budge so it looks like I need to get the spindle socket and take the hub off and have it pressed out Oh well. . .

Thanks,

 

I read a bunch of old posts on the swaged brakes, but I'm still not too sure of the direction to go in once I get the p/s hub off: Do I have the studs drilled and pressed out, and does that destroy the drum? The d/s only had one stud that had splines on it and they were pretty shot. The drums appear to be of the same vintage so I would think they were replaced at one point, but with only around 22K on it you never know. The hub on the d/s doesn't appear damaged and the newer studs are tight so, what should I do??

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

 

Um, am I missing something? Shouldn't you have to remove the spindle lock nuts and outer bearing? Everthing will just pull off. I don't think the drum is technically supposed to come off the hub loosely like that. The hub and drum are usually swaged together. To get them off, take off the spindle nuts.

 

My front 10 inch drums just pull off like the rear ones. I dont understand all this complete disassembly of the front end. Is there something wrong with mine?

Josh

 

Nothing wrong with yours, in fact it's the way they should all be. Some brakes have the lug studs pressed through the hub and the knurled/splined part of the stud also presses into the drum forcing the drum and hub to be attached to each other. Then the factory would "swage" or press the edges of the splined area of the stud down over the hole in the drum so there is no way for the drum to come loose. On these you have to remove the wheel hub and drum together as an assembly. To convert this over where the drum is removable, you need to first get the drum and hub assembly off the brakes and spindle. Then you machine or carefully grind the "swaged" area away on the stud, then press the studs out. WARNING: if you press the studs out without removing the swaging then you will destroy the drum and the stud holes in the drum! (don't ask how I know ). Then you install studs with a shorter shoulder or drill the stud holes out on the drum slightly so they will slip on and off of the studs and hubs. Normally a machine shop can machine the swaging away or if you are really careful with a dremel you may be able to do it. Hope this helps. Nickmil.

 

Thanks Nickmil for the insight. The plan is then to "carefully" grind down the splined studs an get the drum off. Got to get me a spindle socket. If the local 4wd shop doesn't have one then I'm off to Walck's for a road trip. They're only about an hour away. Thanks again for the help.