Removing Rear Brake Drums

[CMF_ChrisB]

Hi,

I am trying to remove the rear brake drums from my 98 micra. I have jacked the car up and taken off the hand brake however cannot seem to budge the drums. According to the haynes manual I should put a screw driver into the hole at the back of the drum to release the brake if it feels stuck. I did this but no luck, wasnt sure if I was pushing the right thing with the screw driver, difficult to tell when you cant see in there . Was thinking of trying to pry them off at the rim with a scew driver, but dont want to damage anything by using too much force. Any advice on this will be gratefully received.

Thanks Alot,

Chris.

 

[CMF_frank2]

chris

it is quite common for a drum to rust onto the hub, i usually whack it with a copper hammer as i turn it.
if the drum is worn and left a lip, and the self adjusters are working ok, sometimes you just have to be a bit aggressive !

 

[CMF_ChrisB]

Thanks for the advice frank. Do you wack it inwards, or wedge something behind it and wack it outwards?

 

[CMF_frank2]

chris

i whack the outer corner of the drum and it shakes it loose.

frank

 

[CMF_nz_aj]

Don't forget to release the handbrake from in the car....

When I cleaned the dust out of mine on the weekend I whacked them several times with the tyre iron in an inwards driection around the periphery of the drum.

On my JDM drum, there are two threaded holes that can be used for jacking screws.