Drum Hub Removal

[Treehouse]

Hey guys I’m trying to remove the hub from my front brake drum. It looks to be rusted on pretty good and I don’t want to break anything. Do I press out the lugs first and then press out the hub? Does anyone know a trick to doing this without a hydraulic press? I’ve been wanting to buy a press for the shop and I guess this is my sign.

[Caveman49]

The last time I had one that bad it was on a 66 Mustang with 4 lugs. I wound up chipping the outer edge when I was beating it with a BFH.

I’d probably keep soaking it with some kind of rust buster, and tapping it all around to loosen it up. Eventually you’ll get the rust to break free. Just try not to tap or beat the out edges of the drum. Have you considered going to front disk brakes?

Good luck with it.

[Treehouse]

Yes I am going with disc brakes and I’m using the scarebird brackets so I need to remove the hub to machine it down to fit my rotors. I’ve been soaking it and I’ll end up using a hydraulic press if it gets to that point.

[Caveman49]

Maybe put the lug nuts on it and get a piece of wood (2x4x8”) something like that, and take the BIG hammer to it. Isn’t amazing how these things rust together.

[comethead]

The studs are staked to the hub/drum assembly. You can grind the staked part off the stud then press or hammer them out. The hub should separate after that.
Last time I tried it I kinda destroyed everything and ended up throwing it all in the trash.
NPD sells new hubs for $80 each if it comes to that.

Joe

[Treehouse]

Thanks for the info comethead. I thought something looked different about those lugs and I’m glad I didn’t get hammer happy. I’m thinking about ordering the hubs off NPD and then machining those down to my rotors because they are way cheaper than the scarebird hubs. They want $300 for the hubs but I’m sure they would be worth it to someone that didn’t want to go through the trouble of machining . Fortunately I have a lathe in the shop that could do the job so I’m willing to give it a try.

[power band]

I'm not advocating but it is an inexpensive simple conversion to front disc brakes is available from "Scarebird Mechanical:

I 'run Scarebird' 4 lug discs on '61 Comet. Original wheel hubs are used so width offset should only be added thickness of Nissan rotors hub used with slightly longer wheel studs.

To remove the 'swedged' lugs without ruining the hub bores, I simply drill the back of the lugs' "button head" off flush and they easily pushed out the front of hub ... Instead of a lathe, I simply removed the hub material needed with an angle grinder'.

.

The Scarebird 4 lug swap I used has Nissan rotors and Cavalier Calipers for a simple inexpensive upgrade. One caveat is that Original falcon 13" wheel rims will not fit the conversion. 14" late 60's and MAverick etc 4 Lug wheels will fit (but early 13" "bottlecap" hubcaps don't fit the later wheels.).. The wheel centers were enlarged around 1967...

. . .

I used the swap on original 1960/61 style spindles and then on upgrade to 71 Maverick 4 Lug spindles with Scarebird providing simple spacers for the 4 Lug '71 spindle from '61'.




.. will also need Disc/Drum 'proportioning valve' for proper front rear fluid pressure, I used a Maverick's disc/drum master cyl. and prop' valve .


. . . .





have fun

[Caveman49]

Good pics PowerBand, makes more sense to me now. I just can’t see why his hubs couldn’t be knocked or pressed out of the drums. The lugs being “swedged” in to the hub should come out with it, no?

In any case good info.

[power band]

The OEM lugs on drum side also are 'swedged' (sp?) but since drums are not being re-used the damage to them isn't critical. Knocking out the lugs from the hubs enlarges the lugs' bore and can make new lugs fit- loose ...

. .

hav fun

[Treehouse]

Thanks for all the info guys! I’m going to order new hubs and machine them down to my rotors, I’ll order the longer studs and I should be in good shape. I’ll make a thread on here and document the process.

[barrys65cyclone]

heat and plenty of it !