AMC 20 Brakes

82CJ7JEEP

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I need some assistance, I am trying to check the rear brakes as I have 1 wheel holding with the e-brake on. My manuals (Haynes) does not specify
how to remove the drum. I have 2 out of 3 screws in the drum (see pic), do these hold the drum on? I have never worked on an AMC rear, so sorry if this appears to be a stupid question. The screw heads are stripped out, if they have to be removed, will I hurt anything by drilling them out?
 

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It wouldn't hurt the brakes if you drilled them out just make sure you dont drill through the hub flange and hit something with the drill bit. Just drill the tapered screw head off and the drum should come right off.
 
OK, I drilled the screw heads out, soaked the studs, and where I assume the drum rides(see attached pic with yellow circle). Would I be correct to assume that the drum just may be very stuck? Do I have to remove the axel nut? There is definitely something wrong inside the drum, I can engage the e-brake and turn the drum with one finger. Thanks in advance for any and all help.
 

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It's just stuck as usual, no worries. Use a small hammer and tap it around the flange between the wheel studs while having a screw driver between the drum and the rear back plate prying it gently. It will break loose. Make sure the e-brake is completely released even though they are inoperable. Check the cables as well, they sometimes break. That nut in the center is for your axle shaft. It's a splined 2 piece design. They are the weakest part of the AMC 20 axles. I still have mine stock like yours but eventually will replace it with a one piece. Jeep4jps(Johhny) has some good suggestions on replacement axle shafts for those.
 
i had the same problem with my 81 cj-7 i kept spraying the studs with pb blaster for about for hours and taped it with a hammer and mine poped right off
 

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Thank you gentlemen, I apologize for the delay in responding, I am going to work on it again tonight, I have had my son soak them at least twice a day for the past cpl days. If they do not come off again will I hurt the axel any if I use a puller? I believe my largest one will just clear the drum, but I will have to use the axel as the pressure point, will this do anything to the axel?
 

Be careful with the puller. You can easily wreck the drum. You can put some tension on it with the puller - just a little - you'll see the drum flex on the face around the hub. Then, with the tension on it, give the face a few raps near the hub like Mikey said. You're sure it's not hung up on the shoes, right? You will not hurt the axle at all using it for the puller. You use a much stronger puller to remove the hub from the axle and that puller presses on the same spot. BTW... You do not need those screws that you removed. More or less, they just were there to keep the drums on when the Jeep went through the assembly line. If you put some anti-sieze compuond around the hub face during reassembly you won't have to go through this again. I did that when mine were new and I slide the drums off every time a rotate the tires (6-8000 miles) to check the brakes, dump out the dirt, and keep the drums loose. Best of luck - John
 
Thank you all for the input, I have finally succeeded in removing the drum, shoes are toast, Am going to strip them down and start with all new parts including drums. All e-brake parts are installed correctly, not sure why it did not work, again thank you for all of the advice.
 
Cool... You got it off... You might consider replacing the wheel cylinders as well. I have had a lot of bad luck reusing old wheel cylinders. The piston cups get pushed back over dirt or rust and start leaking a a couple weeks. You may luck out and not leak, though... I know of a couple of guys that don't change them and have been OK. Myself, I've had quite a few leakers. Now I change them to avoid trouble. Best of luck. Hope you're back on the road soon - John
 

John, Thanks, yes I will be replacing ALL internal parts as the original are very rusty and or broke. I did find a retainer spring that was broke, so all parts including wheel cylinders will be replaced. Thanks again for all of the input.
 
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