Screw Size

[The Critic]

When a brake drum is rusted on, you can either use a hammer or a screw to remove the drum.

You screw the screw into the drum and it separates it from the hub. I need to buy a couple of those screws, but I'm not sure what size they are.

Would any of you know?

Thanks!

 

[Pablo]

Not sure - it's a standard size on all cars???

 

[paulo57509]

Is it really rusted onto the hub? Try backing off the adjustment first. In extreme cases of wear, the drum won't clear the ridge worn into the drum when you try to slide the drum off.

Make and model of vehicle would help too.

Oh yeah....is the drum held onto the hub with screws? Typically, the "puller" screws will be the same size as the retaining screws.

 

[Bryan_Tran]

was just working on my drums. make sure the e brake is off and just whack the drum a couple times with a plastic mallet.

 

[Bryan_Tran]

oh yeah, on my toyota theres also a slot in the backing you can stick a flathead screwdriver in and retract the shoes to make it easier to come off.

 

[crazyoildude]

years ago when i was in auto shop class i saw my shop teacher use a propane torch and heat the drum and it came lose by itself.. All these years later i have only used that once but it did work..

 

[The Critic]

Not any model in particular, but I remember being at the Firestone and the guy had a set of phillips screws on his car that he used to "screw into" a Corolla's brake drum to remove it. I wouldn't mind owning a set of those screws for my toolbox, but I don't know what size they are.

 

[Bryan_Tran]

they're probably the same screws that hold in the front brake rotors

 

[Zaedock]

BFH.

 

[eljefino]

IIRC the thread is 6 or 8mm regular thread.

I got drums off a corolla with surplus saturn screws.

They may not be tapped but are so soft the screws tap them as they go in. Works slick; wish everyone did this.

 

[mechtech2]

If they weren't tapped, it was a factory mistake.
They are always tapped, if there are holes - no other reason to be there.
What size? It differs from car to car.
Metric bolts go by the thread size, NOT the head size. A 10 by 1.0 1.25 or 1.5 is about what you need.

 

[eljefino]

Do you have a drill bit set you can stick in there? Even if you only have english sized bits you can type "5/16 in to mm" in google and google calc will give you the metric size.

I bet one (okay, two) of the AC bracket bolts off your saturn will work great and the compressor won't go anywhere with all the rest of them still remaining.

 

[Tosh]

Here's a good purpose for saving all those left over screws and nuts in a clear plastic jar. I guess you don't have one of these 'junk jars' yet? You will probably be able to temporarily unscrew something else on the car that uses that thread, as eljefino said.

Knowing the cars Critic usually works on, it's probably metric, so stick something (drill or calipers?) in the hole to get a close idea of what is the minor diameter and then look up the courser (as in not fine) metric thread that seems right. FSM will probably state what to use?

 

[andyd]

5/16 = 7.9 mm

 

[Vikas]

Actually, if you find the shop manual for the car, it will list the specific bolt thread size. These are NOT screws but nice big bolts with standard hex head on them.

Here is the extract from a typical Honda Service manual for rear drum service. "Screw two 8 x 1.25 mm bolts into the drum to push it away from the hub bearing unit. Turn each bolt
two turns at a time to prevent cocking the brake drum excessively."

I am like you; I purchased two 8 x 1.25 mm bolts just for this purpose but I have not even removed any drums on any cars in the last 20 odd years. This was "just-in-case" purchase; I have done many such purchases as I have become of those "great keyboard mechanic" myself I have many tools which have never been used on my vehicles.

- Vikas