Topic: 1965-1966 6 Cylinder Front Brake Drum "Staked" Wheel Hub Studs to Brake Drum

[NEFaurora]

Subject: 1965-1966 6 Cylinder Front Brake Drum "Staked" Wheel Hub Studs to Brake Drum.

Does anyone know any reason as to why Ford did this to their Front Brake Drum Studs?!??  I had to deal with this back in 2004 when I did all the brakes on my '66 6cyl. Convertible.  I had forgotten that Ford in their infinite wisdom, "Staked" the base of the wheel hub studs making removing the Original Factory Front Brake Drums off of the Original Factory Wheel Hubs nearly impossible.  I had to have them "pressed" off with a Hydraulic Press in order to get the Original Wheel Hubs out.  After that, My Front Brake Drums on my '66 Vert were "Free Floating" and now come off easily when I do the brakes...as I no longer have to take off the entire Brake Drum and Wheel Hub Assembly off in one unit....and now I can just remove the Brake Drum while the Hub is still left on the spindle.  The majority of other Classic Mustangs and Fords that I had previously owned in the past 30 years already has this done by previous owners, so I never had to deal with it until 2004..and most of the cars had replacement front Brake Drums...so they were already "Free Floating" and came right off by the time the cars made their way to me.

Now Fast Forward to 2017, and I am facing the same thing again with my '65 Convertible 6 cylinder.  The car still has/wears its Original Factory Front Brake Drums and Original Factory Wheel Hubs, and the Original Wheel Studs are "Staked" onto the Original Factory Brake Drum ...and I have to remove the Original Hub with Staked Wheel Studs from the Original Factory Brake Drum...

 Is there any better way than having to have them "Pressed" out again costing me $50-$75 bucks??  The Original Drums will be garbage anyway...and I just want to get my original Factory Hub with Original "Staked" Wheel studs out of the Old Factory Brake Drums....so I can put new Brake Drums on and make them "Free Floating" like I did on my '66 'Vert back in 2004.  There must be a better way to separate the Original "Staked" Wheel Drum from the Original Wheel Hubs with "Staked" Wheel studs....

Has anyone got any special tricks? I do see the the Original Brake Drums have two exposed holes near the center of the hub .  Someone recommended putting a 8x1.25 bolt in the two holes and just forcing them apart by screwing in the bolt(s) to the two available holes.  I'm not sure if that is the correct Bolt Size.

Has Anyone got any good ideas??  I really don't feel like paying $50-$75 to have these hubs "pressed" out of the old Factory Brake Drums.  I'd rather do it myself... though I don't have a Hydraulic Press....At worse, I could buy one from Harbor Freight....though I'd rather not.. I barely have enough space in my garage as it is!

I don't know why Ford did this practice (or when/what year it started) of "Staking" the Wheel Studs to the Front Brake Drums. I think that they ended the practice in Late 1969 or at least 1971...I' can't be sure.  It just seems stupid... As I'm not aware of GM or Mopar ever doing it..  Why did Ford have to be different?!?  And what was the Reason?!??.....and What is the "Recommended" fix to separate them the easiest without having to have them pressed out?!???  Interestingly enough, If you Google the subject, There is barely any information about it out on the internet as it is just a "known" annoying issue.  I saw one guy have pictures in his blog that he actually separated the two like a caveman and put the Drum and Hub over his head and just threw it on the ground breaking the Wheel Drum...thus freeing it from the Wheel hub and studs.  Not a good way to do it as you can easily mess up your hub or original Wheel Studs...

Also, I'm assuming that Ford did this not only for the 6 cylinder Front Brake Drums, but for the V8 Front Brake Drums as well....

So what's the trick?!??

I'm all ears!!!

)

Tony K.

[jwc66k]

Lug nuts have a torque requirement of 85 foot-pounds. They were installed on the assembly line with air tools, and service with air tool as well. A "staked" stud is the most economical (remember the assembly line and service) method of installing lug nuts (look at old English cars). The different designs Ford used for wheels make that process valid. If you need to press studs out, and it costs you $50 a "session", consider buying a Harbor Freight 20 ton press. On sale, the price is around $160. It's worth it.
Jim

[DKutz]

put a lug on the end of the stud and hammer the stud out.

[NEFaurora]

I don't want to remove the original "Staked" Studs from the hub...  I guess I'll just have the hubs "pressed" out like I did in 2004...

)

Tony K.

[67gtasanjose]

Junkyards used to carefully SLAM the drum flat onto a concrete floor with an excessively hard/fast thrust downward using both arms in order to separate the hubs. I say carefully because the attempt was to save the hub usually. The staked in ones would be more difficult and often damaged the drums. You say you are replacing the drums so this should work. The drums MUST land completely flat to the ground for the most impact force. Be sure there is nothing in the vicinity that could get struck from any ricocheting concrete debris or cast iron debris. (It really does work )