How to remove stubborn 70D brake drum?

While trying to adjust the brakes on my 70D today, the right adjuster screw was free so I set that one no problem.

But the left adjuster is frozen. Rather than risk breaking it off, I figured I'd just take off the brake drum and apply Acetone/ATF to the threads until it can be turned... except that the drum won't come off the pinion splines!

I backed off the nut to the end of the threads, braced the edge of the drum with an 8 lb hammer, and banged on the nut without success. Now I need a new nut and the drum is still stuck fast on the splines.

I suppose the next step is removing the brake assembly from the tractor. Only three bolts, let's hope I can move THOSE. Sigh.
Unless someone has a "never fails" trick for getting the drum to pop loose?

thanks
Charles

I have seen those "vibrated" loose with an air chisel and a blunt chisel. I'm not making promises, but I have seen it done on some pretty stubborn ones.

Remove the three bolts holding the brake assembly and take the whole unit to the vise. The drum can be removed much more easily there.

Well, I got it done, but it wasn't that easy!

First I removed the assembly from the tractor. Although the three bolts came out easily, the quill really didn't want to slide out of the main case bore. That took some prying and hammering at awkward angles.

With the assembly on the bench, I propped the edges of the drum on two bottle jacks and smacked the nut hard multiple times... no movement. In fact I actually pushed the nut onto the shaft threads. Oh dear (not exactly my words, but close enough).

Time for the flame wrench! With some relatively mild heating of the hub, one tap and the shaft popped right out.
Then I found that the two shoe adjusting pins were seized tight in the casting, which is why the adjusting bolt would not turn. After some ATF/acetone and tapping, one pulled out with vise-grips and a hammer. The other was stuck fast. I lit up the torch again, heated the pin to a dull red, hosed it down with my homemade penetrant (major smoke show!) and an easy removal after that.

It turns out the adjuster bolt threads were perfectly clean and not stuck at all. Good thing since that bolt is now $100.58 from Deere! I wire-wheeled the pins and the bolt anyway, and reassembled with anti-seize. Not much brake lining left, but enough for as little as I use the tractor (let alone the brakes).

I had a fun time restoring the end threads on the very heavy (and undoubtedly expensive) gear shaft. A very sharp punch and gentle hammering removed a lot of the nut debris, and some file and grinder work on the mushroomed end made the 1-14 threads look passable. I took the nut off the other brake drum and carefully ran it on and off the threads with lots of anti-seize, cleaning after each pass, and after two or three round-trips it was ready for reassembly. Fortunately the damaged part is not where the nut actually rests. Wish I'd had a 1" split rethreading die, but how often would I need it...

Everything went back together easily, and I even was able to re-use the old gasket (already ordered one for $6.14 just in case). Adjusted the brakes like I was planning to do several hours of work ago! Now on to the next neglected-maintenance headache

I use a 3" bar that has been ground down to a blunt point. Stick it threw a hole in the cast center.
Whack it with a 6 pound hammer couple time. It has never failed..

Meant 3' bar

When dealing with that type of thing heat is your best first chose