Rear drum removal - the hard way

[Crunchy]

I always get weird looks from the neighbors when I do that on the road behind my house.

I always get weird looks from my neighbors cause I am always working on my truck.

They think it is be a piece of shit. They cannot comprehend "making it better" is different that "fixing it".

 

[slimchriz]

They think it is be a piece of shit. They cannot comprehend "making it better" is different that "fixing it".

Lol my father in-law used to say "you aint fixed that thing yet" id be like "when did it brake?" the he would wander off all confused

 

[KELLY88]

When my drums were stuck/siezed, I went into one of those "free brake inspection" places.

I sat back, had my free coffee, and watched them take 2 hours to take my drums off.

They came back and told me my brakes were shot, and needed new cylinders as well for a total of $500.

I said thanks, put it back together so I can go home and do it myself.

Did that a couple months ago. Free inspection resulted in a $2500 estimate for a brake system and suspension overhaul. I just took it in for a brake inspection cause I couldn't get the drums off myself. Adjusted the star washer multiple turns and it still wouldn't come apart. Finally said F it and let them take care of it.

I know my shoes, drums, springs and cylinder all need replaced. I've never done a drum brake job before. Is it possible for a driveway tinkerer or just better to cough up the $250 and let the shop do it and give me a warranty with it?

 

[rpugh]

>Is it possible for a driveway tinkerer or just better to cough up the $250 and >let the shop do it

I just did it. So far so good.

I'm going to look into that heater resistor thing now.

 

[Crunchy]

Did that a couple months ago. Free inspection resulted in a $2500 estimate for a brake system and suspension overhaul. I just took it in for a brake inspection cause I couldn't get the drums off myself. Adjusted the star washer multiple turns and it still wouldn't come apart. Finally said F it and let them take care of it.

I know my shoes, drums, springs and cylinder all need replaced. I've never done a drum brake job before. Is it possible for a driveway tinkerer or just better to cough up the $250 and let the shop do it and give me a warranty with it?

Warrenty? Screw that. You will get a warrenty with your new parts anyways. And a shop won't warrenty labor, only the parts - costing you the labor again for them to fix it.

Do it yourself. Plan to start in the morning and finish early afternoon if all goes well. It was my first drum brake job too. Get everything together first, and don't reuse parts, since you do it youself, its cheap enough. Then jack up and rear end, take off both drums, but leave all the parts on and do one side at a time. That way you can compare to the complete side when putting it back together. I had a shop manual with diagrams with me, but the reference of the untouched side was invaluable for me. Especially getting the parking brake springs and lever back in the right way.

When I did my cylinders, since they were shot, I could not get the brake lines off, I stripped the bolt. I had to run around town at 8pm getting a new brake line, and installing it with a flashlight in my mouth - not fun. And all I found was a 6 foot line, I had to do some fancy bending to get it down to 1/3 the size - only to fix it properly a month later.

Is your the 97 in your profile? If so, you may need to do your lines as well, they are cheap and you won't have to do them for a while.

It helps when you take the parts off to lay them on the ground in front of you in the same position, so you can glance at that when putting all the new parts in - helped me anyways.

Finally, buy the damn drum brake tool (looks like a big pair of pliers, but you don't us ethem like pliers). Its makes life so much easier - no stripped knuckles. If it doesn't come with instructions on how to use it, ask the guy selling it - it can be a bit confusing (like I said, I tried to use them like pliers - they don't work that way on our drums - you use the ends of the handles instead)


Ohh, the the second side will take you about 1/10 the time the fist side took you - seriously.

 

[97ranger4x4]

I have yet to touch the rear breaks on my truck at 137k. I know it is all original But the pads still have good life in them. I do not do a lot of heavy breaking or a lot of towing so i guess they do not get that used up.

 

[KELLY88]

Crunchy, thanks for the tips. Ya the 97 in my profile is the truck I was referring to. I think the job needs done, the back end is starting to squeak and I know that leaky cylinders aren't a good thing to drive around with. I know I don't own the drum brake tool so I'll be sure to get that too. Thanks againl

 

[04 EDGE]

When my drums were stuck/siezed, I went into one of those "free brake inspection" places.

I sat back, had my free coffee, and watched them take 2 hours to take my drums off.

They came back and told me my brakes were shot, and needed new cylinders as well for a total of $500.

I said thanks, put it back together so I can go home and do it myself.

thus the reason we charge 15 bucks for brake inspections at my shop, we "tech's" have to feed our family's also.


and if you came into my shop and your drums were stuck, i would have backed the adjuster off enough so the shoes clear the rust ridge thats keeping them from coming off, then reinstalling them without cleaning the rust ridge and re adjusting them and then some so when you get home you still couldn't get the drums off!

if you really pissed me off i may even over tighten your wheels.

although that is very rare.

 

[rpugh]

Hi, OP again here.

I gave them more of a 'workout' last night. Huge huge difference from before.

After I came back. I found the drums to be VERY HOT...
I imagine that's normal(?) Any comment on this?

Thanks so much for all the input! I will be getting the premium membership to site.

Ron

 

[Mark_88]

The drums can be hot from normal use if you just tested them...but abuse (aka testing) and also if they are binding or set up too high (the star wheel adjuster should start out with just enough to keep the pads in place) can indicate you need to redo the work...

Did you put brake grease on the contact points and the star wheel adjuster? This will help later if you need to adjust them or for self adjustment...and also put a dab of grease on the parking brake pivot where the arm attaches to the brake shoe...

As far as testing the rears to see if they work...the best way I've found is to drive on a gravel road and hammer them on...then get out and check to see if the rears dragged...but you can also aim a mirror at the wheels and have someone check them that way...

 

[cocoasranger]

>Is it possible for a driveway tinkerer or just better to cough up the $250 and >let the shop do it

The only difference between the guy that knows how to replace the rear brakes and the guy that does not is that one of them has replaced them before.

If you get a Chilton or Haynes manual, take your time and follow the step by step instructions, and do one side at a time while referring to the photo of the assembly, it should be fairly easy. Next time you will be the expert (at least for that truck) and the next brake replacement will be a piece of cake.

 

[slimchriz]

I have the haynes manual and for my truck (2001) it was unhelpful as it has a different setup than mine....

 

[cocoasranger]

I have the haynes manual and for my truck (2001) it was unhelpful as it has a different setup than mine....

I hear you. The manual tries to cover too many years and models. What I did was get both a Haynes and Chilton's manuals, read both and between the two it's usually pretty clear what they are trying to say. When that fails I google the problem and the fix is spelled out in more detail (usually in a TRS thread interestingly enough).

 

[slimchriz]

Yah thats why I have a crappy computer in my garage to look up car stuff and for read throughs of procedures on vehicles I dont have a book for

 

[Bryan22]

the best way to do rears the first time is take the drums off both sides and do one side at a time using the other side for refrence. no manual needed.