63 New Yorker Rear Drum/Hub Separation

[aaron72]

I have a 63 New Yorker and am going to be doing the rear brakes and would like to tackle this separation to make removal easier in the future and to replace the studs due to age as well as make the studs all the same direction.

Is there a different process for the front and rear. I'm mainly only concerned about the rear drums/hubs at the moment and was hoping that someone might be able to give me a bit of insight on what is required to go through this process for the rear.

I've looked around for some tutorials and found this one from a while back. It doesn’t go into detail on the process if you want to reuse your drums, which I do, it details the drill out method which ruins the drums. I've also seen some information on various forums that makes it fuzzy if the process is different between front and rear, so I was hoping that someone might be able to point me in the right direction with a definitive process for the rear.

 

[Davea Lux]

You can remove the swedge on the studs with a specialized cutting too, available from Goodson Tool. www.goodson.com. This tool is on the pricey side at about $115. Unless you plan to use it a lot, that might not be practical. The alternate method is to cut the studs off as close as you can to the drum. Then use a drill press with a 7/16" drill bit and drill down into the stud about 3/8". Then take a sharp chisel to collapse the swedge into the hole that you drilled, then use a drift punch to knock the stud out. Studs are 1/2" x 20 so be sure you have the drill bit centered on the stud, a center punch is helpful for this. The studs were swedeged mostly to keep the drums from falling off as the vehicle went down the assembly line.

Dave

 

[MoPar~Man]

Does the '63 rear hub and drum (or I guess anything pre-65?) come off as a single unit, or does it include the drive shaft? I recently used a $10 5/8" hole saw to remove the swedge on one of my '67 front drums, in the next few days I'm going to try to just push out the studs on the other side using a vice without using the saw.

 

[413]

If you push out the studs without cutting the swedge it will remove material from the hub. Now the new studs will be loose in the holes in the hub.

Not recommended

 

[Fireflite56]

It is recommended to NOT separate the drum and the hub - they are supposed to remain together as one unit and were assembled to be centered with each other. Separating them leaves you at risk of something being off center between the two pieces and causing several potential problems. If you insist on "making it easier to remove", I'd suggest doing an axle swap from a later c-body instead as those did not have tapered axle shafts. However, as they say, the right tool makes the job easy. Below is a link to the best drum puller on the market and will make the job of pulling drums pretty straight forward. I see guys all the time using heat or banging on the drum with large hammers, complaining about how hard or time consuming it is and potentially ruining parts in the process. If you're doing that, you're using an inferior puller. This puller makes the job as easy as de-adjusting the shoes and threading on some nuts. Easy peasy. Less than 10 minutes if you have an electric driver to run the nuts on evenly, maybe 15 minutes tops if you do it by hand. I've used this on seized up drums where the shoes are stuck to the drums and it's still a simple operation. For those instances, I'll first hit the drum a couple times with a hammer only to help the shoes break loose from being stuck to the drum. Les Fairbank's Hub Puller

As far as the studs, unless someone boogered them up, I wouldn't worry about age as a factor. The only time you hear about stud issues is when someone breaks one off without realizing they are left-handed or maybe if it's all rusted up and the nut doesn't turn. Changing them to all be right-handed is personal preference. I work on my own cars and don't need to worry about someone turning them the wrong way, so no need to worry that some are left-handed.

 

[CBODY67]

Back then, there WAS an engineering theory reason for the rh and lh wheel studs. Had nothing to do with Chrysler trying to be different than GM in this area! Although in most cases, Chrysler did things to a higher degree of execution than GM would pay for. Still, most service people considered Chrysler vehicles "crazy" because they were different than GM. Just like the parking brake, too. There was a reason they mentioned in their sales pitches.

Thanks for that link to the "better tool"!
CBODY67

 

[MAXWEDGECHAR]

I carry a drum puller in the trunk of the Max just in case.......

 

[Ross Wooldridge]

Drum puller required - plus you'll need to cut the swedges from the studs as noted above.

I cut mine with a dremel - they're quite accessible once the drum is off the vehicle.

Once the stud's swedges are cut, then support the drum from the inside with wood, and as well, use a long deep socket that can cover the head of the stud on the inside of the drum, and then the studs will easily tap out with mallet. Supporting the drum and surrounding the stud head will eliminate any drum flex and potential warpage.

 

[aaron72]

Thanks all. Was able to separate them and replace the studs.