While replacing my rear brakes I had to beat/pry/ persuade the drums to get them off.
The brakes work fine, but now I have a noticable vibration coming from the rear when travelling on the highway, almost like a tire is out of balance.
Any suggestions?
Thanks

Hmmm, I can see your cause for concern - and I'm not sure if it can. I've resorted to the 2 lb hammer many a time, esp. with those older cars. What you really need is a quick way to check and see if it is in fact the drum or not. Try putting the spare on. Perhaps it'll go away. if nothing else it'll force you to re-torque the wheels down in case one got a bit screwy.

good luck.

Did you have the drum turned??? If not it's probably warped and you should turn it. I would also look into the corosion on the mounting surfaces. like the hub and the inside of the drum. if it has .005" - .010" worth the corosion in one spot it will throw off the drum. Try sanding the hub and drum mounting surface. Usualy this is more important with rotors but could be a factor.

The drums have ~80K miles on them (this was the first rear brake job) and they looked and felt smoothe & clean, inside & out.
Is is necessary to have the drums turned, even if there's no obvious signs of wear?
Thanks.

The short answer is: yes it is very possible to damage a drum by forcefully removing it. This sometimes happens even though you are very careful.

Machining (turning) the drums is unlikely to solve the problem if you feel the vibration while driving down the highway. You will probably have to replace the drums, which are balanced at the factory. Be sure you check the obvious things, like tire problem or wheel balance before you buy new drums. :rolleyes:

Did you put it back on the same way you took it off?

I always make sure to use those two little holes that are near the bolt pattern and the rusty spots that form underneath them to put the drum back on exactly the same way it came off.

Now - obviously it spins around.... so it might not make any difference... but it can't hurt.

I'd be amazed if you did warp/bend it. I've had to use a 5 lb mallet to knock them off before.

In high school, I had a van up on a jack and was trying to remove the frozen drum. I didn't know the trick of sliding the tire under the vehicle at the time. I smacked and yanked the drum for several minutes... before the van (full sized) fell off the jack. I was quick enough to get out of the way. It smashed to the ground on the drum. Hey, it was now loose! Bottom line, it didn't hurt the drum at all. No vibration, no cracks (luckily).

The vibration turned out to be one side of the rear brakes that was over adjusted.

While we're on the subject, what is the proper way to adjust rear brakes?

After driving for ~1 hour (both stop & go & highway), one of the drums was warm to the touch. The other was too hot to hold your hand to for any length of time.

Suggestions please.