[JM 35 Sedan]

You could have a safety hub inside the drum keeping it from coming off. I've gotten some very tight drum/hubs to come off tapered axles w/o having to cut anything. I'm also wondering what you are calling "max torque". I've occasionally used a length of pipe to extend a strong bar/cheater bar to get more torque. When it finally popped, it sounded like a 9mm gun fired near my head.