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OK this is a dumb question. I've never worked on a floating axle rear before and I want to redo the rear brakes. I pulled the wheel off last weekend and couldn't figure out how to get the drums off. I tried removing the axle flange bolts but the axle wouldn't budge, I must be doing something wrong. It looks to me like the drums are BEHIND the rear hub, no?

Take a BFH and tap the center with the nuts still on the studs of the axle (finger loose). Jim

Do the sledge hammer trick to get the axle out. Once the axle is out, back the first nut off with the proper socket or a hammer and chisel if you don't have the socket. You may also have to bend up the little locking tab that keeps the first nut from moving (if it is still there). Then you'll have to remove the washer with locking tabs to get to the 2nd nut. Once the 2nd nut is off the drum should come off. If it doesn't, you probably have to back your brakes off using the adjustment slot near the bottom of the backing plate. Once the drum in removed the brakes are accessible.
Hope this helps.

Remove the axle flange nuts. Hard tap/slam around axle flange (trying to "squirt" out the stud alignment cones) repeat as necessary. Remove axle shaft. Inside the hollow, you'll find 2 spindle nuts separated by a folding tab lock washer (French Lock). Locate the folded over lock tab and bend it up straight, remove nuts. If brake shoes are holding you up, rotate star adjuster until drum will come off. New part number for "lock washer" is Dorman 618-050. Mine have been apart and together sooo many times that all the tabs broke off the lock washer; for several years no one offered a new lock washer.

Thanks for the info guys.

And if I need to replace the drums (I have a set of NOS ones that came with the truck) how do I get the old one off?

robertob wrote:Thanks for the info guys.

And if I need to replace the drums (I have a set of NOS ones that came with the truck) how do I get the old one off?

Take the entire assembly to a machine shop
along with some new studs and have them
press out the old studs, replace the drums
and swedge in the new studs for you.
John

My opinion on new lug bolts. Have your machine shop upgrade to right hand thread all the way around.

Anybody got a Dorman PN? i kind of like the LH studs even though I always have to remind the tire guys (and sometimes argue with them.)

i had trouble with the axle cones - they were mighty stuck. a flat chisel and a small hammer got them to budge - it was slow but steady. also, my rear studs were not swedged into the hub, but oh boy were the front ones. the rears came right out but the fronts put up the biggest fight in the universe.

Thanks for the tips guys. Came apart quick and easy once I started tapping on the flange with a 2 lb drilling hammer. The cones I got out by sticking a flat screwdriver tip in the slot and expanding them over the studs. Brakes need some work but the bearings seem OK to me, maybe a bit worn. Definitely need new seals though.

Anybody know the right drum PN for these? Rockauto is all over the place, and I'm having trouble getting a straight answer from any parts stores around here. I just ordered some Bendix 140183 because i'm desparate, but I have no idea if they are the right drums.

i had a devil of a time getting mine. i knwo that mine are different from each other, one has two patterns of lugs (8 and 5) and the other doesnt; one came from SE USA and the other from somewhere in canada. i paid $200 for a pair of new ones.

Bendix 140183 turned out to be the right one. They are discontinued though so hopefully these are the last ones I will ever have to buy...