More Brakes, How Far To Cut Swage??

[JM 35 Sedan]

I did some experimenting on separating a '35 rear hub and drum assembly that had the inner tapered diameter of the hub damaged, but the drum was still in near perfect condition with an ID of nearly 12.000". I found a 5/8" hole saw on-line that was deep enough to go down over the threaded studs and still make the correct depth cut on the swedge, which I found to be a depth of about 1/32" to 1/16" that worked well for me. I cut the swedges using my drill press with the drum on its table so I could control the depth of cut to be the same on each stud. Then without hammering on any studs, I set the assembly up on my hydraulic press with the back of the hub supported in such a way that each stud could be pressed out individually. I did thread a lug nut on each stud to give a larger pressing surface. After all the studs were removed, the hub was still tight in the drum, but with a slight press on the hub, it came completely out of the drum.
I plan to reuse this drum on a good hub with stock studs pressed into the hub, and the drum will just be loosely fitted over the studs, and held in place by the wheel and lug nuts.
Also, whenever replacing rear drum/hub assembles on tapered axles, make (damn) sure the axle nuts are torqued to specification. I use a torque of 200 to 220 ft #'s, on a clean/dry taper, and re-torque several times until torque becomes stable. This is what I found worked best for me, but as orhers have already said, your methods and results may vary.