To go along with the popular thread about drum brakes, I have a very appropriate question about brakes in general.

Last weekend I rebuilt the rear wheel cylinders, and replaced the shoes and hardware on my 1965 comet rear drum brake system. All went well right up to the point where I need to bleed the air out of the system. After 3 days penetrating oil, and 3 days liquid wrench treatment they are both still as stubborn as the day I started trying to get them out, and I'm afraid to put too much torque on them for fear of breaking them off.

Any helpful advice on how to accomplish such a simple task?

I'm so close to being done...all I need is to remove the frickin air from the lines and stuff :-D then I can drive it again!

Maybe a silly idea, but you could try with a pneumatic/electric impact ratch. That way, the torque applied to the bleed screw would not be applied all the time. That minimizes the risk of breaking the bleeding screw (at least, to some extent). Also, you can try hitting (with care of course) the area surrounding the bleeding screw. I don´t know if it is feasible, since I really dont know the arrangement nan position for the bleeding screw, but, hey, just throwing some ideas at you! 

Another thing that might work to loosen the screw is to use brake fluid instead of the penetrating oil.  Pour some brake oil and let it sit for at least one day, and see if that helps.

And speaking of penetrating oil, what brand did you use? I have used the Prolong penetrating oil for quite some time, and it has worked better that the rest.

Let me know if something of that worked, ok?


Frank.