FORD CORSAIR BRAKE DRUM PROBLEM

QI

have a 1965 Ford Corsair which has been left to me by a recently deceased uncle. The car has not received much attention in the last few years, and I have decided to spend a bit of time getting it back into a roadworthy condition. Having put it up on stands, I am attempting to remove the rear brake drums. I have removed the small securing screws, but the drums appear to be firmly stuck onto the flanges. Am I correct in thinking that once the screws have been removed, the drums should slide off? Tony Turner

AYou are perfectly correct in saying that when the small securing screw is removed, the drum should slip off the flange. That would have been the case possibly 50 years ago when the Corsair was a newer vehicle, but after many years of storage and use, corrosion may well be holding them to the flange.

The best plan of action to remove the drums is to first soak the area around the wheel studs and the centre flange with a good penetrating fluid, leaving this to soak overnight. Hopefully this will help to dissolve the corrosion which is holding the drum to the flange. The drum should then be struck with a rubber or nylon hammer on the face of the drum. (Do not strike the edge of the drum as this can distort it.) Striking on the face of the drum should help to effectively bounce it off the flange, or at least free it sufficiently so that you can then remove it. The worst case scenario would involve using a puller to remove the brake drum, but I would hope that this will not be necessary.

Once the brake drum is removed, then the flange and brake drum should be cleaned and the area around the flange lightly coated with a thin layer of copper grease before reassembly to prevent the problem from reoccurring.