Welcome Visitor! Please take a few seconds and 
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2008
- Messages
- 50
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 6
- Location
- New Orleans, LA
- Vehicle Year
- 2004
- Make / Model
- Ford Ranger Edg
- Engine Type
- 3.0 V6
- Engine Size
- 3.0
- Transmission
- Automatic
- 2WD / 4WD
- 2WD
- Total Lift
- Stock
- Total Drop
- Stock
- Tire Size
- Stock
I posted back in August 2008 that when I attempted to replace my rear brake shoes, that I could not get the drums over the new shoes. I tried several times, and cursed alot. With frustration and no success, I reluctantly put the old shoes back on and put things back together. The best clues or ideas suggested were the e-brake was stuck or a wheel cylinder was frozen.
Fast forward to this past weekend. I started on the driver's side again, but made myself go slower to figure out what I did wrong before. First I put in a new wheel cylinder. Then I started to assemble the shoes, using the Haynes manual as a guide. But I forgot that my manual was for the 1988 -1992 models, and mine is 2004. I kept going over the instructions and pictures, knowing that things just looked different. Getting aggrivated and tired after ~4 hours, I called my wife to come help as a second pair of hands. Being the brilliant and observant one she is, she saw right off that the brakes on the truck did not match what was in the book. Taking a closer look, we saw that my brakes had slightly different springs than what was shown. Also, we saw that the steps for putting things back together left out a step which was included in the disassembly.
Once these errors were discovered and corrected, we had things put back together shortly after. The drums fit over the shoes and the e-brake was reconnected. The next day we knocked out the passenger side in under 2 hours. We bled the brakes and I took a test drive. Everything worked as it should. The truck stops shorter, the brakes don't feel rough, and the e-brake stops and holds on a downhill incline.
Had I not had her help (and patience), it probably would have taken much longer for me to figure things out. After staring at things for hours and not seeing the problem, I now appreciate more how important a fresh set of eyes can be.
Plus, she said she enjoyed getting dirty with me
Fast forward to this past weekend. I started on the driver's side again, but made myself go slower to figure out what I did wrong before. First I put in a new wheel cylinder. Then I started to assemble the shoes, using the Haynes manual as a guide. But I forgot that my manual was for the 1988 -1992 models, and mine is 2004. I kept going over the instructions and pictures, knowing that things just looked different. Getting aggrivated and tired after ~4 hours, I called my wife to come help as a second pair of hands. Being the brilliant and observant one she is, she saw right off that the brakes on the truck did not match what was in the book. Taking a closer look, we saw that my brakes had slightly different springs than what was shown. Also, we saw that the steps for putting things back together left out a step which was included in the disassembly.
Once these errors were discovered and corrected, we had things put back together shortly after. The drums fit over the shoes and the e-brake was reconnected. The next day we knocked out the passenger side in under 2 hours. We bled the brakes and I took a test drive. Everything worked as it should. The truck stops shorter, the brakes don't feel rough, and the e-brake stops and holds on a downhill incline.
Had I not had her help (and patience), it probably would have taken much longer for me to figure things out. After staring at things for hours and not seeing the problem, I now appreciate more how important a fresh set of eyes can be.
Plus, she said she enjoyed getting dirty with me
