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Old 07-08-11, 20:27
rob love rob love is offline
carrier mech
 
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Shilo MB, the armpit of Canada
Posts: 7,587
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You can easily do the brakes without hub removal. But since your jeep likely has not had a full servicing in 25 years, you should pull the rear axles and repack the wheel bearing on each shaft. Also, replace the inner oil seals, and you may as well replace the outer dust seals. Failure of a wheel bearing will mean the axle will come out, shaft, hub, drum, and tire.

I do have a couple of those OTC hub pullers, and if I was home I would loan you one. Unfortunately I am not, and cannot say for certain when I will be. Do not use a puller that hooks around behind the edges of the hub...you will only bend the hub.

One option to removing the hub is to remove the drum and shoes, then undo the line to the wheel cylinder. You can then remove the 5 or 6 bolts that hold the brake backing plate onto the axle. At that point, the axle should be ready to come out...you may have to tap the hub a bit to get it to come out as you have to drag out the bearing race from inside the housing. Once out, the hub can be removed in a full size press. Then the whole works can be reassembled in the normal manner. On assembly, it is vital that you torque the hub nut extremely tight (I think the torque was around the 300 pound range, but check the manuals). Also, note that the axles should have a slight end play (around.004" IIRC). This is adjusted by removing or installing shims between the race and the backing plate.

Sorry to add this extra step to your brake job, but I am pretty sure when you see the condition of the bearings in there, you will be glad you did.
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