Hello,

I am more than happy to share a success story that was based off a rookie mistake. It involves replacing the 10" rear drum brakes on a 2007 Ranger/2WD/4D/XLT/4.0L.

First, the front discs are simple and rather easy to do (as most of us already know). Thankfully, rear drums don't need as much attention as often. But when they do, how fun!

My mistake was in removing the drums themselves. They had not been removed ever in the truck's entire 8 year/155K mile life. So when I tried to remove them, no luck. Tapped with a hammer, still no luck. Then came the big two-jaw flywheel remover tool from the OPE toolbox. Got them off? Yes, but they were no longer much good. After removing the old shoes, replacing all of the springs, cables, etc...got the drums back on, torqued the wheels. First day on the road, one of the rear drums (probably the right rear) was warped so severely, that it inhibited the forward movement while idling in Drive!!!

Apparently, the two jaw flywheel remover put a severe bend in the iron drum.

Good news is that after replacing both rear drums with new ones (about $40 each), the rear brakes are working again, and without the warped resistance. Probably needed to be replaced anyway.

In any event, there must be some trick of other tool for removing drums that are stuck/rusted on so bad, because they were not about to move without some major force!

RR Bob

 

Mine took beating with a rubber hammer for a good 30-40 minutes.. plus using a chisel to bang away at the back lip. It took a long time, but it finally came loose. Of course the other side came off no problem. Thankfully this was when I was swapping over to rear disc brakes.. so I no longer have to worry about that issue.

 

Backing off the adjuster and hitting with a big hammer usually works for me. Drums arent hard. They are more of just a pain.