I want to start on the rear brakes on this 91 of mine and i pulled one of the rims off to find a LARGE brake drum. By using Advance autos pictures on their website I ID'd it as being the 6200 rear axle and having 12x3" brakes???

the diameter of the drum is prefectly covered by the weight they used to balance them. go figure!

1st question and real important to me- since this truck has no ID badges on it I have e no idea wether or this is a d-250 or a d-350? Could a d-250 come with these drums?
second- what is the procedure for removing these drums after you pull the axle out?
i have never worked on a full floating axle before? thanx ,crossy

 

Trucks with single rear wheels use 12" X 2.5" linnings and
trucks with dual rear wheels use 12" X 3" linnings
It's the same drum for both trucks.

 

"what is the procedure for removing these drums after you pull the axle out?"

Pull out the little wedge thing that is jammed into the big nylock nut.
Get a 2 5/16" (I think) wheel nut socket and remove the nut.
The whole assembly should now slide off.

Problems that I had:

- The outer bearing inner fell on the floor (good thing it was clean with cardboard down)
- Some oil leaked out (good thing...cardboard)
- The drum would not come off. I had to loosen the brake adjuster off a lot. On one side I had to use two screw drivers, one to hold the ratchetting mechanism in and one to turn the adjustment wheel.

Once the assembly is off you have to drive (or press) the studs out to separate the drum from the hub. The oil deflector shield stayed with the drum so I had to carefully remove that from the old drums and put it in the new ones.

Hope this helps,

JP.

 

In a nutshell removing the drum etc. on a full floater is very similar to removing the drum or rotor on a front wheel of a 2wd. Remove axle and catch gear lube that will spill out(the tapered lock "washers" can be a PITA), back off the brake adjuster, remove bearing nuts and lock washer, remove outboard bearing, pull drum assy off the spindle (its heavy be prepared). It is good practice to replace the spindle/hub seal whenever the drum is removed. I also wipe a generous amount of grease on both bearings while assembling to make certain they don't run dry before the gear lube gets a chance to slosh down the axle tube. Clean axle flange and mating surface on the hub with brake clean and apply a new gasket or thin film of RTV let the RTV set up before tightening the axle nuts. Sometimes I need a long pry bar to lever in a stud hole in order to lift the splines up so they will go into the diff. Adjust brakes to proper drag. Lastly check to be certain gear lube is at proper level in diff.
I hope I remembered that correctly.

 

If you are going to turn the drums instead of replacing them, leave them assembled to the hub. That way they are cut concentric to the bearing races.

 

great advice guys . i got it. I lan to cut drums, replace wheel cylinders, brake shoes and then new brake lines across the axle(they are looking nasty where they go into the brake cyl.)
somebody just check for me on one more thing. mine measures 50-1/2" from backing plate to backing plate.
understand that the truck i bought had NO bed when i bought it. No ID badges and aftermarket SRW set up on it so i better make sure it is a SRW axle before i proceed. thanx for all the help, crossy

 

looks like since i found this info in a sticky that i should just go ahead and convert to 3" stuff while I'm there??

 

My W250 already had 3" when I got to it, I would put in 3" if I were you. That seems to be the consensus in all the threads I went through.

Try taking the VIN to a dealer and get them to print the build sheet for you. I did that, the parts guy said "we are not supposed to do that", but he gave me one anyway. Lots of interesting info. Also, if you look up the VIN number decoding info you should be able to tell what it is. Do a search on "VIN decoding". Here is one:
http://dodgeram.org/tech/specs/VIN_decode-pre94.htm
There are others with different info.

JP.

 

I did mine a few months back because I didn't know what was in there. It was a horror . I made one change from stock. I put in 1 3/16 piston diameter wheel cylinders from a Chevy one ton. The originals on duallies are 1 1/8 inch. The little bit larger pistons helped in my case. I'm running a dually with RWAL and an automatic.
It is a good practice to always replace nylock nuts. They are only good for one or two uses and the nylon doesn't hold as well as when they were new. Especially when there is a groove cut through the threads. I also replaced the star washer. Someone previously removed them and one of the nuts became really tight. The nail they used to hold the nut was total joke . I did manage to save the drum, hub and bearings . Everything else is new. Even the star wheel to the auto adjuster. The expense was high, but when you figure you are trying to stop three tons or more it is worth it.