I'm going to be replacing my rear seal tonight or tomorrow. Any tips for removing the outer brake drum? I tried pulling on it yesterday with no luck.

 

First, make sure your parking brake is off, may seem obvious but it's been done. And if you can't pull them off there are 2 threaded holes in the drum that you can put bolts into. I think they're M8 thread, but I'm not positive. You need 2 bolts at least 50 mm long, thread one into each hole and tighten them alternately, about 1/2 to 1 turn each. This will pull the drum off.

 

there is also an adjusment hole at the rear of the brake on the backing plate. It is a small rectangular hole centered on the backing plate about 3 inches from the top of the plate. Pull out the rubber stopper and you can back the brake off from there. Just pull on the e-brake cable to loosen the tension and adjust. This should help get the drum off. The axle seal is easy to replace too. There is a great write up in the how to section.

 

Are you doing the rear brakes while your at it? You have to be careful taking the brakes off without damaging the wheel cylinder rubbers. Turn the star wheel all the way in so that you can pry them apart and pull the springs out.

Get a can of brake cleaner and a tub to spray down all the junk so it isn't such a dirty job.

 

Not gonna do the rear brakes. I have never done drum brakes and dont want to start now.. I will just go to town on each one with some brake cleaner. Thanks for the tips.

 

Just hit the drum with a bfh!

 

Thats what I was looking for.

 

if your just doing the oil seal you dont have to remove the drum, just pull it all off in one unit

 

The M8 bolts worked perfectly. But I ran into an issue putting it all back together. I sheared off one of the bolts that attches the drum to the axle..... I thought those things were strong...

 

Ouch. Can you back it out? You'll need a backer-outer thingie (I know, don't thank me. It's all in a day's work...)
That sucks, man.

 

Just in case anyone else snaps a seration bolt or however you spell it. The Findlay toyota dealer out here in vegas is gonna seperate the axle from the drum hub and bearing retainer, press out the 4 studs and press in new ones. Total cost, $190.

Oddly enough, I went to the techinfo site and there is nothing on there describing how to fix this. Otherwise I would of done it my self.