Working on drum brakes has always been my least favorite job to take on. Hopefully with a few simple pointers this will make your brake job easier and less frustrating.
My learning curve on the first brake was pretty steep and took several hours to get it right but the other side took only 20 minutes and was quite painless. YouTube was little to no help because they either do it wrong or totally skip over the important steps. These brakes were trashed with dust, mud, leaks, and broken springs so I ended up pulling the Dana 35 axles out to install outer seals and bearings as well as replacing all the brake components and rear brake lines.
Helpful hints: Buy several cans of brake cleaner, you'll need them. Buy a new complete hardware kit with springs and adjusting cable, it's only $20 or so and well worth it. Lastly, if you don't own a set of brake tools which include spring remover/installer pliers, drivers, and an adjusting tool then go get them. I paid $10 for the Harbor Freight set so for the price of a few Happy Meals they're well worth it and will probably last longer than a Happy meal and you won't put an eye out when the spring goes flying.
- Nothing wrong with Happy Meals, just sayin'...
I also went with new cylinders since these were leaking.
Another hint... Do one side at a time so you can use the other side as a reference. I also took lots of pictures.
The job is pretty straight forward. Remove all the old parts, clean up the area, line up the new parts and install them.
Here's the mess I was faced with, others will probably see worse. Pull it all out and clean up the backing plate.
I installed the brake adjusting lever and it's retaining spring before installing the shoe but this step could be done later. No difference.
At this point it's much easier to install the brake shoes onto the backing plate with the two retaining springs than trying to hold everything in place with your hands and feet. Next add the adjusting mechanism and lower spring. Be sure the lower spring is stretched between the LARGE holes, not the closer small holes.
STOP - LOOK - AND LISTEN
Here's the part many people get wrong including myself and nobody wants to talk or about - only curse at.
Reading through dozens of reviews about the new brake hardware kits you'll see quite a few that say the new adjusting lever is too big and scrapes a groove in the drum. Well, yes it does have a slightly different shape but not enough to hit the drum or even come close (Drumroll) when installed correctly.
You can see in this pic I overlapped the levers and there is a slight difference along the bottom edge, but again that's ok.
Make very certain the emergency brake lever behind the rear shoe is fully hooked in place at the top of the shoe. If it's not hooked the lever and shoe will not be flat against each other and the upper cross bar and little spring will not fit.
This next part is about the curved adjusting wire guide and this is what's so critical at getting it right.
The curved guide had a round portion on the back side that sticks out and fits into the hole on the brake shoe. When installed correctly the curved guide will lay flat on the brake shoe and is hooked in place by the spring.
What happened to me several times and most likely everyone else who had a problem is the curved guide becomes unseated out of the hole when attaching the spring onto the top post. When this happens the adjuster cable will have too much slack and not pull the adjuster lever up into position. In most cases the lever won't even touch the adjuster tooth wheel and never work properly along with scraping a groove in your drum.
When installed correctly the cable should be taught and in the groove around the curved cable guide, not pinched under the guide. When attaching the spring end of the adjuster cable to the lever simply push the lever up with one finger and hook the cable spring into it's slot on the lever. Much easier than trying to stretch the spring onto the lever. The adjusting lever should sit level and engauge witht the adjusting tooth wheel.
That should do it. After everything is back in place with the drums on it's time to do a final adjustment with the tool or screw driver and bleed the brakes.
Hope this helps. I don't want to see any more reviews about the cable adjuster hanging down too low.
My learning curve on the first brake was pretty steep and took several hours to get it right but the other side took only 20 minutes and was quite painless. YouTube was little to no help because they either do it wrong or totally skip over the important steps. These brakes were trashed with dust, mud, leaks, and broken springs so I ended up pulling the Dana 35 axles out to install outer seals and bearings as well as replacing all the brake components and rear brake lines.
Helpful hints: Buy several cans of brake cleaner, you'll need them. Buy a new complete hardware kit with springs and adjusting cable, it's only $20 or so and well worth it. Lastly, if you don't own a set of brake tools which include spring remover/installer pliers, drivers, and an adjusting tool then go get them. I paid $10 for the Harbor Freight set so for the price of a few Happy Meals they're well worth it and will probably last longer than a Happy meal and you won't put an eye out when the spring goes flying.
- Nothing wrong with Happy Meals, just sayin'...
I also went with new cylinders since these were leaking.
Another hint... Do one side at a time so you can use the other side as a reference. I also took lots of pictures.
The job is pretty straight forward. Remove all the old parts, clean up the area, line up the new parts and install them.
Here's the mess I was faced with, others will probably see worse. Pull it all out and clean up the backing plate.
I installed the brake adjusting lever and it's retaining spring before installing the shoe but this step could be done later. No difference.
At this point it's much easier to install the brake shoes onto the backing plate with the two retaining springs than trying to hold everything in place with your hands and feet. Next add the adjusting mechanism and lower spring. Be sure the lower spring is stretched between the LARGE holes, not the closer small holes.
STOP - LOOK - AND LISTEN
Here's the part many people get wrong including myself and nobody wants to talk or about - only curse at.
Reading through dozens of reviews about the new brake hardware kits you'll see quite a few that say the new adjusting lever is too big and scrapes a groove in the drum. Well, yes it does have a slightly different shape but not enough to hit the drum or even come close (Drumroll) when installed correctly.
You can see in this pic I overlapped the levers and there is a slight difference along the bottom edge, but again that's ok.
Make very certain the emergency brake lever behind the rear shoe is fully hooked in place at the top of the shoe. If it's not hooked the lever and shoe will not be flat against each other and the upper cross bar and little spring will not fit.
This next part is about the curved adjusting wire guide and this is what's so critical at getting it right.
The curved guide had a round portion on the back side that sticks out and fits into the hole on the brake shoe. When installed correctly the curved guide will lay flat on the brake shoe and is hooked in place by the spring.
What happened to me several times and most likely everyone else who had a problem is the curved guide becomes unseated out of the hole when attaching the spring onto the top post. When this happens the adjuster cable will have too much slack and not pull the adjuster lever up into position. In most cases the lever won't even touch the adjuster tooth wheel and never work properly along with scraping a groove in your drum.
When installed correctly the cable should be taught and in the groove around the curved cable guide, not pinched under the guide. When attaching the spring end of the adjuster cable to the lever simply push the lever up with one finger and hook the cable spring into it's slot on the lever. Much easier than trying to stretch the spring onto the lever. The adjusting lever should sit level and engauge witht the adjusting tooth wheel.
That should do it. After everything is back in place with the drums on it's time to do a final adjustment with the tool or screw driver and bleed the brakes.
Hope this helps. I don't want to see any more reviews about the cable adjuster hanging down too low.
