Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting rear drum brakes-NEED INPUT.

i tried to get my rear drum off, but it seems rusted on. does it come right off, or does the whole rear hub assembly come off? and i highly anticipate that it still has the factory oem shoes on it with 102000 miles. do you think these need replaced? or do the rear ones wear hardly at all? how does one get a rusted drum off w/o cracking it? any help? i do not have a puller. thx

Why do you want to remove them?

Anyway, the drum comes off by itself. If it is highly worn, there would be a lip in the outer section (inside if you are looking at the lug studs) where the shoes don't touch. The ones on my `96 were a PITA. It took quite a bit of beating and a big screwdriver, but they came off. The only place it can rust on is where the drum meets the flange. A quick tap with the hammer will break any rust that is there. The big flathead screwdriver was placed between the drum and the backing plate. Give it a tug (or lightly tap the backside of the screwdriver) turn the drum 180 degrees and do it again. Thats how mine came free.

dont breath in the dust~!!!!!

My rear drums came off kind of hard, and the one actually didn't go back on very well. Make sure when you put the new brakes on, that you adjust them properly. There's a metal adjuster that, if you don't set it right, won't let the drum back on. THAT was a PITA.

Make sure the Ebrake is released and that the adjuster is released via the hole in the back plate. Squirting some WD40 around where the hub & studs poke through drum and then tapping with a hammer all around like ExDelayed mentioned should help loosen up the rust.

CLR around the hub helps the rust dissolve................

When we bought our '99 Contour after its first 15 mos as a Hertz rental, removing the rear drums were a pain, alright. After that, I applied some chassis lube grease to the lug studs prior to assembly, and that has helped solve the problem.