CJ7 rear brake, wheel cylinder removal

seajay7

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Mar 23, 2005
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Cary
The brake drum attaches to the axle so I guess my question belongs here.

I am trying to replace the drivers side, rear, wheel cylinder on a 1984 CJ7 with rear drum brakes. It doesn't seem to want to be removed without pulling the rear axle/hub. Am I missing something? I have the infamous 2 piece axles. So I'm considering a swap to one piece axles if I have to pull the axle. I had to use a gear puller for the hub and a slide hammer to remove the axle when I installed my lock-rite locker recently. If I have to go through that trouble again I might as well upgrade!

2nd question. Any recommendations on a good but economical one piece axle? I am running 33's but may go to 35's some day.

Thanks!
Ben
 
Thanks,

I talked with Jed. He is selling axles for a narrow track. I have a wide track Jeep.

He drives one nice Jeep though!
 
What doesn't want to come off? The drum? You may need to back off on the adjuster to take the shoes away from the drum. If its still hard to remove, use a propane torch on the drum at the hub. The intent is to heat the drum up to break the rust bond between the drum and hub. Also, use a BFH and tap around the edge of the drum from the back side.

Also I reread your post...you didn't take off the 4 bolts holding the axle in place did you (based on your comment about the axle and hub coming out)? Those don't need to be removed to take the drum off.

My CJ was hit or miss. Sometimes they came off easy; sometimes not.
 
I've got the drum off and the brakes out. It's the wheel cylinder. It won't come out past the end of the axle flange. I either have to pull the whole axle or remove the flange from the axle shaft. With most cars I've worked on in the past I was able to just remove and replace the wheel cylinder. It seems like a whole lot of work just to remove a wheel cylinder.
 
IIRC you may have to remove the bleeder to get the cyl. twisted around to get it out. I just had mine off last summer so I may be wrong. Just seems like there was some kinda trick to it though. Hope this helps.
 
I'll try that tonight. I looked at it pretty close and it seemed that the hump on the back where the bleeder screws into was the problem. But it's worth a try. Thanks!
 
seajay7 said:
I'll try that tonight. I looked at it pretty close and it seemed that the hump on the back where the bleeder screws into was the problem. But it's worth a try. Thanks!
Click to expand...
seajay7 said:
The brake drum attaches to the axle so I guess my question belongs here.

I am trying to replace the drivers side, rear, wheel cylinder on a 1984 CJ7 with rear drum brakes. It doesn't seem to want to be removed without pulling the rear axle/hub. Am I missing something? I have the infamous 2 piece axles. So I'm considering a swap to one piece axles if I have to pull the axle. I had to use a gear puller for the hub and a slide hammer to remove the axle when I installed my lock-rite locker recently. If I have to go through that trouble again I might as well upgrade!

2nd question. Any recommendations on a good but economical one piece axle? I am running 33's but may go to 35's some day.

Thanks!
Ben
Click to expand...
I knew there had to be a way. I was another in the exact same position tonight and was looking for an answer. I spent an hour on the internet and this was the closest post I could find to an so on my own I figured out that if you will loosen the 4 bolts holding the brake backplate to the axle you can tilt the break plate forward just enough to squeeze out the cylinder. Do not completely remove the bolts just loosen them most of the way and you can get the space you need. Kind of a pain and I could only get into them with two 9/16 wrenches, one on the front one on the back side. Hope this helps some other do it yourself fool.
 
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