Brake Drum Removal

terryr · Post by **terryr** » Tue Jun 11, 13 10:23 am

Just keep tapping at them.they will loosen eventually.and the you may have to fart about witb the adjuster

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Tue Jun 11, 13 9:42 pm

thanks Terry....as you know, Im a pro at farting about!

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Tue Jun 11, 13 9:48 pm

FFS Steve!

Just get one with it!!!!

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Tue Jun 11, 13 11:22 pm

long hours at work Pete and by the time I get home its too late to work on the drive as its going to be a noisy job and the neighbours have toddlers hence going to have to be Saturday (after work)......oh, and I have to think about it a bit more, then read about it again.......

terryr · Post by **terryr** » Wed Jun 12, 13 9:49 am

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Thu Jul 11, 13 9:21 am

quick update men....jobs a good un!!

Managed to get the drums off ok....tapped them, no joy so thought I would VERY gently put a wide blade screwdriver into the gap between the drum and backplate to see what happened. Tiny bit of pressure and the stuck one just popped off! Other one came off easy...

Good clean up, new shoes, cylinders and brake lines (in for a penny) and shes all done. I now understand exactly how the adjusters work but had to actually see it to work it out. The lever that links into the ratchet adjuster just pushes straight back on mine, not up or down, to allow the adjuster wheel to be turned.

Managed to strip a thread in the union on the axle but thanks to Dunc, Im sorted again. Learning point...dont try to turn the brake pipes into the union with it tightened down onto the axle...loosen the breather bolt to allow the block to lift off the axle a bit, screw pipes in, then bolt down again. Tough way to learn but got there eventually

Thanks for all your advice and support gents, fronts should be easier when I tackle them,

Cheers Steve

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Thu Jul 11, 13 9:34 am

Well done but that lower spring in the bottom pictures looks incorrect to me....might want to check that against the service manual....

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Thu Jul 11, 13 10:14 am

Thanks for looking Pete...Ive had to turn the blue spring around as my new shoes have a gold stud to hook the spring onto instead of a hole for it to sit into as per the ones I took off. I couldnt see another way to get it to sit properly without bending the spring too much....the original shoes shown in the manual have a hole, not a stud so the ones I took off were exactly like the OEM ones in the book but my new ones have the stud....

Do you think it will be ok as it is?? They work fine and the spring is straighter than the original set up

Cheers Steve

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Thu Jul 11, 13 10:17 am

Forgot to add Pete...the spring didnt work on the hole that matches the original on the new shoes as the other end wouldnt reach the lever at the other end. Just wouldnt stretch that far so I used the stud....got me thinking now

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Thu Jul 11, 13 11:09 am

As long as it holds the ratchet plate down on the star wheel with enough force it does not matter.

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Thu Jul 11, 13 4:02 pm

Thanks Dave....will leave as is as its working fine. Thanks for your advice as always

Cheers Steve

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Tue Jul 16, 13 9:15 pm

Right men....the stupid questions just keep coming!!!

Went out in the car yesterday, did about 30 miles. Half way round I stopped for a brew and when I drove off, I struggled to get the parking brake off. I eventually did but when I got home the rear brakes were smoking!! I realised that the parking brake must be dragging so earlier, I loosened the parking brake adjuster till the tension went out of the cables. I took the drums off again (they slid off easily this time), cleaned everything again, lightly sanded the shoes and managed to swap the springs around just in case they were causing an issue.

I made sure I could spin the drums still and tested the parking brake on the drive. In neutral, I released the brake and she rolled forward easily. Dab on the brakes and stopped fine. Went for a test drive of about 5 miles, got back and though the brakes werent smoking and were still working fine, the drums were very hot to the touch.....hot enough to burn my finger in a second or so. The front ones were cool in the centre and warm on the drum edge.

Am I just being paranoid, are the shoes just heating the drums because they havent bedded in yet or is there something not quite right still?

Any suggestions please?

Cheers Steve

Dave-R · Post by **Dave-R** » Wed Jul 17, 13 9:05 am

Brake easy until they are bedded in. They will get hot to start with. Check the adjustment when you have some miles on it.

Blue · Post by **Blue** » Wed Jul 17, 13 9:43 am

The correct way to adjust a back brake is as follows, slacken off the handbrake fully, adjust brake until it locks then slaken off a little so it turns, then adjust the handbrake so it locks the drum but fully releases when you let it off. Walk away whistling a merry tune...

Dave999 · Post by **Dave999** » Wed Jul 17, 13 9:47 am

what he says above

ignore this

if i adjust mine by-the-book

up tight against the drum and back off x turns

soon as i've used them once or twice everything expands and they drag making everythinbg expand even more and they drag even more.

probably a symptom of all the parts coming from different sources now not 1 big mopar factory who used the same metal every time

and as you say hot enough to smoke all the paint off

its worse on earlier cars due to their design

they had duo-servo brakes the longer shoe was designed to ride round slightly shoving via the levers the smaller shoe hard into the drum which locked the brakes (nice!)

they adjusted the angles and some other bits on later cars and replaced wheel cylinder with a smaller bore one so all shoe to drum contact was supplied by your own leg not the momentum of the car. safer and due to change of bore not really much harder on the leg

I adjust mine with the drums off

to the point where i can just push the drum (with no lip) back on
give it a jiggle press the peddle and few times to see how far it goes

happy

leave well alone

quick nip up before MOT if i can be arsed...i do have disks on the front which probably supply 65-75% of the brakeing i might not be so devil may care if i had drums all round

Dave