Drum brakes won’t come off.

[Fummins]

I haven't had a problem removing drums. Yet...The bearing seems to be fairly tight to the spindle. I'd hope the center of the bearing isn't stuck or wedged on the spindle. Obviously you have to pull the drum off straight. Worst case get a slide hammer if you're really stuck. I've never tried backing the brakes off through the backing plate.
Good luck!

[mohammad]

The video is mainly useful for the first 40 seconds (where it shows how the ridge catches the shoes). The part about using bolts to get the drum off won't work with our Mirages because they don't have any bolt holes.

When you finally get your drums off, check them for a ridge that is catching the shoes. Grinding off that ridge is not a bad idea.

Like I said...you might want to try the other drum first and see if it will come off more easily.

For anyone wondering, the reason you can't have bolt holes is because the hub bearing is integrated into the drum, there would be nothing for the bolts to press against if holes existed. Since our lug studs are integrated into the drum you could potentially use a slide hammer with the lug nut attachment to pull them.

[7milesout]

foama - My apologies if this has been said, or not applicable. I've only played with drums once, but was applicable on that vehicle.

In the drum hat on my 2004 Corolla was 2 screw holes ~ 180° apart. Now I had to look the car over, but I found 2 radiator mounting screws that were easily removed, that fit those 2 drum screw holes thread pitch and size.

Those 2 screws threaded in and bottomed on the other side of the drum brake structure. Effectively creating a built in "puller." Once bottomed, tightening about 1/2 turn each and not very long the drum hat popped loose. That's from memory on a 2004 Corolla, don't beat me down if no such screw hole exists in the Mirage drum hat.

[mohammad]

foama - My apologies if this has been said, or not applicable. I've only played with drums once, but was applicable on that vehicle.

In the drum hat on my 2004 Corolla was 2 screw holes ~ 180° apart. Now I had to look the car over, but I found 2 radiator mounting screws that were easily removed, that fit those 2 drum screw holes thread pitch and size.

Those 2 screws threaded in and bottomed on the other side of the drum brake structure. Effectively creating a built in "puller." Once bottomed, tightening about 1/2 turn each and not very long the drum hat popped loose. That's from memory on a 2004 Corolla, don't beat me down if no such screw hole exists in the Mirage drum hat.

These screw holes can't exist in the mirage for the reason i explained in post #12 ....

[MetroMPG]

Joe Z, any luck?

I've never tried backing the brakes off through the backing plate.
Good luck!

I wasn't able to get the drums off my latest Mirage at first. I pried & hit with a hammer and pried some more, and could only get it to move a half inch or so as Joe described.

I even backed off my parking brake adjustment nut off.... and nada.

When I finally smartened up and found a thread here with the same diagram Top Fuel posted in post #2, that was the ticket. Lever a little screwdriver against the adjuster mechanism, and it clicked/released to its lowest setting, and then I could pull the drum no problem.

And my drums only had a tiny ridge of corrosion outside the friction area (less than 1mm) - it was just too close a fit.