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I am having a great deal of problems removing the rear drums of my 55 Desoto. The nut is backed all the way off and I have used a hub puller with no progress. Anyone else have this problem? Also I need to remove the spindals as well and am having problems. There is a pin that goes into the center of the upright that locks the kingpin in place. I am not sure wich way the pin is suppose to be removed, or what is the best way to remove it. Anyone that has any idea on how this would best be handled I would appreciate the help. The brakes are the last of my problems to make the old girl driveable.
Ryan, this is a very common problem and keeps coming up on this website. To me it looks like the 5 point puller is key to removing the drum. Someone may have one you can borrow otherwise a club member makes these. I forget who - someone will come forward with the rest of the info.
I have never pulled the spindle on my 53 but do plan to do so when I get the time.
If you don't already have one, you should get yourself a Factory Service Manual.
You've got to have the correct hub puller; can you post a picture of what you're using? It should look like this.
Les Fairbanks is the club member that Paul refers to, and he makes a killer hub puller that pulls on all 5 studs rather than just the three that the typical puller uses.
It's supposed to be fun!
1949 De Soto Custom Convertible (project)
The pin you are talking about should be tapered. Clean off both ends and use a round punch on the small end.
Tim Mabry
The Lost Cause Garage
47 Suburban
57 Sportsman 4dr HT
I loosened one rear drum once by loosening all the lugs about half way and jacking the car up and putting power to the rears in fwd, then rev. and jamming on the brakes back and forth til it broke loose. I've also had one stuck so bad that I had to weld up a tripod arrangement out of scrap tall enough to get my port-a-power ram in there and put full power to it..still didn't break loose until I heated the hub with a torch. We should all just buy that magic puller of Fairbanks. dave
