1975 Ford Bronco Brake Drum Removal Issue

[MerganserMaster]

How do I go about removing the front, driver's side brake drum on my 1975 302 Bronco? It spins freely and I have hit it with a hammer a few times, is there a bolt I'm not seeing or something? The rear drivers side one came right off without any fiddling. Attached is a picture of the drum,

Front, Driver's Side Brake Drum:

https://flic.kr/p/2psuvwQ

 

[Broncobowsher]

Yes, unlike the rear that just slides off the front are press fit on the studs. To get the drum off...

Remove the lockout. Looks like 6 allen head screws, and large expanding snap ring and small contracting snap ring on the axle stub.
Use the correct tool to remove the outer wheel bearing lock nut
Remove the lock ring
Remove the inner adjusting nut
Remove the outer wheel bearing so it doesn't fall on the ground.
Pull the drum, hub, inner wheel bearing, and seal as a unit.

 

[MerganserMaster]

Does this mean that the whole "unit" has to be replaced instead of just the worn parts inside (like brake pads/cylinders)? Also are there any parts in particular that I should replace (such as the wheel bearings)? The car has sat outside for half of its existence so I'm assuming most of the stuff is still OEM. The rear brake pads and drum looked good, and as the springs were "colored" I assume they were replaced sometime in their existence, although they may need replacement down the road, they look good for now. Any YouTube videos available for this?

 

[67sport]

No. Any single piece can be replaced once you get it apart. Once the front drum assembly is off the truck, you drive the studs out to separate the drum from the hub. Not sure if there are YouTube videos, but a search for brake rebuild on ford 4x4 drum brakes should turn up something. They are all similar and simple once you've seen it once.

 

[m_m70]

Any YouTube videos available for this?

Go to Google and type this in the search bar:

early bronco brake drums youtube

or just click below:

https://www.google.com/search?q=ear...ajBqMTWoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#ip=1

 

[73azbronco]

heat can be your friend here, be careful, heat the drum around the studs, not the studs, then wack the begesus all around drum.

 

[Broncobowsher]

Does this mean that the whole "unit" has to be replaced instead of just the worn parts inside (like brake pads/cylinders)? Also are there any parts in particular that I should replace (such as the wheel bearings)? The car has sat outside for half of its existence so I'm assuming most of the stuff is still OEM. The rear brake pads and drum looked good, and as the springs were "colored" I assume they were replaced sometime in their existence, although they may need replacement down the road, they look good for now. Any YouTube videos available for this?

No. This is just to get the drum off to access everything inside. Many vehicles the drum just slides off the studs, including the rear on the Bronco. But in order to get smoother braking and keep the drums concentric to the bearings the Bronco (and most all Fords with front drums) have the drum and the hub as one unit. When the drum is turned it is true to the axis the bearings ride on, removing as much tolerance stack up as possible. No need to remove the drum from the hub unless it is being replaced. If the drum is just to be turned, keeping it on the hub will result in a more accurate turning.

Some people don't know, or don't care about keeping the drums true to the hubs and will hog out the stud holes on the drum to allow them to be pulled off without removing the hub. Allow the drums to slip off like the rears do. Not the best, but works. But don't forget that the wheel bearings need servicing about as often as you need to get into the front brakes anyway. So it really doesn't make much sense to undo good engineering.

 

[B RON CO]

Hi, you want to remove the drums as Broncobowsher said, and repack the wheel bearings every brake job, or more often if you drive hard and ford streams. Get a Ford or Chiltons manual. Good luck

 

[MerganserMaster]

Late-ish update:

I have ignored the front brake drums for a while, but recently the cylinders have started leaking so I got replacement ones and borrowed several different sizes of lock ring removal sockets and none worked. I went to the auto parts store and bought an additional one, it was also too small and didnt fit (thankfully I returned it). Am I missing something or do I just have a weird front axle? No places seem to sell a lock nut removal tool of this size, any ideas where I could get one? Thanks

https://flic.kr/p/2pWYaEk

 

[Speedrdr]

If I understand correctly, you’re looking for a “socket” to take the nut that holds the manual locking hub and its bearings out. All the venders stock these. I don’t remember what its name is…I always called it a hub wrench.
Hope this helps, if this indeed what you are looking for.

Randy

 

[Speedrdr]

Here’s the part I was referring to.

 

[Speedrdr]

Another vendor with different views.

 

[Broncobowsher]

You need to remove the lockout first. The inner and outer snap rings. Behind the locking mechanism are the axle nuts. Remove the outer. Washer with a tang that goes in the groove on the spindle threads and a pin that locks into the inner nut. Then the inner nut.
It takes the 4-prong hub socket. The big hex ones are for doing full floating rear axles on 1-ton trucks.

 

[MerganserMaster]

You need to remove the lockout first. The inner and outer snap rings. Behind the locking mechanism are the axle nuts. Remove the outer. Washer with a tang that goes in the groove on the spindle threads and a pin that locks into the inner nut. Then the inner nut.
It takes the 4-prong hub socket. The big hex ones are for doing full floating rear axles on 1-ton trucks.

Where might the outer snap ring be? Ive removed the inner one but I cant seem to find the outer one, is it just covered in a bunch of grease?

 

[Oldtimer]

#7 Internal snap ring goes in groove in hub (red arrow).
See attached PDF for Dana Manual.

Below is an enlarged section of your photo in 1st post.
I do not recognize the style of locking hub you have, but I does not appear to be Ford or Dana/Spicer?
I am guessing by what I see in your photo . . . .
The screws that hold retain your hub ring (#3), pass thru shiny silver ring in below photo, and thread into #8 outer retaining ring.
Not sure what you need to do to get shiny silver ring off, so you can access #7 snap ring.
The shiny silver ring may be a version of Dana's #9 actuating cambody.

 

[MerganserMaster]

Ok, the mystery has been solved. I found the snap ring buried in all of that grease and was able to disassembly the drum/hubs as normal. the snap ring retains the lockout system and after it is removed, the whole thing can be pulled out. After that the pair of 4 leg spindle nuts need to be removed and then the whole assembly comes off of the axle. Also it appears that there is a very faint "WARN" on the lockout hubs which means that they are not the typical Dana set up. Im not sure if this means the axle is also WARN-made but Im sure eventually I will find out.

 

[Broncobowsher]

Warn is just an aftermarket lockout mechanism. Gears and knob parts. Were there 6 or 8 bolts holding the cover on?

The axle is not "warn" brand. Only the outer locking mechanism.

They generally work best when lightly greased packing them tends to make them hang up.

 

[MerganserMaster]

They were six bolts holding it on. Also it was PACKED with grease, I scooped out handfuls of old grease that was in side of the drum/hub. Repacked the bearings and put a film of grease on all parts where there is "wear" and it now works pretty well.

 

[Broncobowsher]

6-bolts is the newer version. By newer that is in the past 30-40 years. The older version was 8-bolts. I don't think one is any better than the other. But an 8-bolt would show it was probably installed when the Bronco was really new.