Itinerant Air-Cooled

71: rear Drums do not come off, and stars are frozen solid. I have blasted PB for a week. One star on each side moves one click...thats it.
Any suggestions ? (Bus had been sitting for 15+ years)

drum puller might be your last resort. Sometimes the brake pads rust to the drums. The puller will break them loose.

Can you rock the car back and forth on its wheels to confirm the drums aren't frozen? If the drums are confirmed frozen, can you rock the car back and forth to unfreeze the drums? This will expedite removal, and greatly reduce the risk of a broken drum if you do end up using a puller.

Robbie

I learned a fun trick: remove the axle nuts. Jack up the opposite side of the car, leaving 3 wheels on the ground. Put axle nut back on, but only even with the end of the axle. Whack the frozen wheel on the point of the axle, thereby driving the weight of the car toward the uplifted opposite side of the vehicle, freeing the stuck hub. This worked on my beetle, when even a puller failed...I also demolished the bearing...so there's a caveat..

Oh, and my stars were also locked up. I finally managed to turn them with vice grips after the hubs were off, ruining the ends of the stars. Everything cleaned up pretty well...considering.

dingo wrote:71: rear Drums do not come off, and stars are frozen solid. I have blasted PB for a week. One star on each side moves one click...thats it.
Any suggestions ? (Bus had been sitting for 15+ years)

I would not want to damage bearings or stub axles.

Assume that the brake shoes may have to be sacrificed here. Hit the adjusters with PB Blaster again. If the ebrake handle tightens up between 8 and 20 clicks, back off the ebrake cables until they are sloppy loose. Go to the cables under the spring plates and try to straighten the curves, this will help milk the ebrake levers backwards.
Get your largest drift punch and insert in the adjuster hole to squarely engage a BOTTOM tooth on the left or a TOP tooth on the right hole. This is important not to go in the wrong direction. Tap the drift punch many times with a wet application of PB Blaster then leave it for a day. The vibration of your hits will help the PB Blaster get up into the threads.

Next day, go for it. Do not let the drift slip. Whichever star lets go first, wins. Use it to back off the shoes enough to get the drum free.
Colin

Thanks !!...those tips worked well in combination on right rear..which has now been revived and refreshed.
Left rear: i didnbt get far because one of two small bolts holding drum on has head stripped..PB and vicegrip did not free it yet. Any suggestions to free it without decapitation (the bolt that is) ??

dingo wrote:Thanks !!...those tips worked well in combination on right rear..which has now been revived and refreshed.
Left rear: i didnbt get far because one of two small bolts holding drum on has head stripped..PB and vicegrip did not free it yet. Any suggestions to free it without decapitation (the bolt that is) ??

Decapitate it.
Colin

Once decapitated and the drum off, you may have enough nub to grab...

cegammel wrote:Once decapitated and the drum off, you may have enough nub to grab...

Leave it alone, It will be a headless locating dowel henceforth.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:

cegammel wrote:Once decapitated and the drum off, you may have enough nub to grab...

Leave it alone, It will be a headless locating dowel henceforth.
Colin

I have just over 7,000 miles on my Jetta with an identical headless locating dowel. The lugs do all the work anyway.

Robbie

Apply anti seize compound to the adjusting stars and threaded inserts on installation. Makes future brake adjustment much easier. Ainokea

headless locating dowel : aha ! that answers my question about functionality. Thanks !

Managed to remove dowel with merciless beating and the jaws of a 1950s set of vicegrips. 'made in detroit' yeah.
Then much fookin aroond with screwdrivers until i decided to find an actual 'drift' and pound the adjuster stars into submission. Drift was key, especially since i never figured how the puller i ordered is supposed to work. It looks identical to one in Bentleys: 3 footed kind....but this seems to have nothing to do with pulling a drum..is this for early bay only ?

Anyways, adjusted e-brake. DONE

dingo wrote:
never figured how the puller i ordered is supposed to work. It looks identical to one in Bentleys: 3 footed kind....but this seems to have nothing to do with pulling a drum..is this for early bay only ?

Ayep. These composite drums, if they need a pull, you remove the hub/drum combination and press the drum off the studs.
Colin