38 Ford brakes

[ONE37TUDOR]

Anyone have any neat methods of getting the brake drums off a 38 ford? These are frozen and will not turn at all. I do not know anything about these type brakes, is there any way to loosen them from the back side of the backing plate??
Thanks,
Scott...

[BarryM]

I believe I took the locknut and washer off the adjuster cranked on it until I found an easy spot. Should have been loose but the shoes were swelled and cable rotted off. Ended up cutting  the 4 bolts heads or rivets off that held the spreader unit on the other end. I also pulled the back plate nuts off the bolts and pulled the drums with the brakes still froze, and reached in and cut one adjuster rod to knock it apart. Usually around these parts they are hopeless, pretty much destroy them.
 You should borrow a puller to get the drums off, otherwise risk spoiling the drum and axle.  Do you know where mac's site is off fordbarn? Drawings will shed light on how it's supposed to work.

[GPster]

I'd have to say the only parts worth saving are the axles. Mechanical brakes and the wide 5 pattern are somewhat useless. I'd cut everything off and take a die-grinder with a cut-off wheel and cut the hub right along the key-way so if you go too deep you'll only mess up the key. I would think that finding a puller with a wide enough span to get the wide-five lugs would be hard and keeping it straight on that big a span would be hard and might mess up the end of the axel. Those tapered axel ends and hubs where natorious to get apart. On a running car people used to back off the castle nut a turn and go out and drive them so that the starting and stopping would break them loose. GPster

[BarryM]

Some of us still have them, and although you can as a last resort replace the standard 5 on 5 1/2" drums with 90 dollar re-pops the wide fives aren't reproduced yet that I know of. If there is meat on the drums someone somewhere want's them.
The puller that is made for them, all banjo rears, grabs the indent near the end and uses a push nut to protect the axle. Ask on Fordbarn, lot of Texas Ford people there and maybe one nearby with a puller that would help get it apart. If  the car is from the south maybe proper de-adjustment will be all you need to get it apart right.
I have hydraulic backplates on my wide 5's and it look's like they will work good. I have heard some drums have webs inside that interfeare and something about wheel bearings needing spacers but I haven't run into any problems. The biggest problem is limitation on wheel width, 4" is standard, I understand 60 hp used 3.5" and I had to widen a pair to get bigger rear rubber.

[ONE37TUDOR]

Thanks for the replies. I do not plan to use the parts myself but I would hate to just destroy them if it is not necessary, as you say there is someone somewhere that may need them.
I will post on Ford Barn and will ask around locally. All I am really trying to do is to get it to roll!!

Is there a way to back them off from the backside of the backing plate?

Thanks,
Scott...