Okay. Brave hearted - i decided to take on the brake job. Front ones went okay but rears are coming out to be a disaster.

Started with passenger side - i managed to disassemble it. Now having trouble to put it together. Does anyone have a step by step DIY with pics to do this job? I am reading on the forum that it's a b**** job to replace rear drum brakes shoes. But I couldn't find any relevant DIY with pics. Please help.

 

well with any brake job your suposed to look at all the springs and rods and see how they are on before you pull anything apart....
and it helps alot to have actual brake tools, they have some spring pliers or rods that help alot removing those two round spring/keepers for the pads and the rest go for other springs which you dont really need.... you can use some needle nose pliers and or screw drivers for them. its not a easy job for a new person to just tackle without help.

 

Take the drum off of the other side (but don't take it apart further) and look at it for reference. It will be a mirror image. It is easier to put the parts on if you take the hub off, but then you have to deal with putting the hub back on.

On some cars the two shoes on each wheel are slightly different. If that's the case here make sure you got 2 of each kind in the box. Very common to get a messed up set.

 

I finally managed to put the shoe assembly back. I couldn't get the u-clip off the parking brake lever. So ended up with one new shoe!!! Anyway, i was dipping my toe but i think i am in deep sh**.

After putting the shoe assembly back and all the springs, etc in place, now i can't slide the drum back in .. I know i need new drums because they are rusted but again i'm trying to see if i can re-assemble. Is there any clearance to watch out for while putting the shoe assembly back. The issue i'm seeing is that the right shoe assembly moves up and down slight - 2-3 mm. Anyone had the same issue? Could it be my rusted drums?

Tomorrow i will make a trip to autozone to get the new drum and wheel cylinder.

 

you may need to turn the bottom adj in some allowing the shoes to move in, and then the drum will slide over

 

well for the C clip all you need is a screw driver, large flat one.... turn the clip so the open part is turned towards the brake pad, then use the screw driver as a pry bar against the pad to push it off.... or if ya got 2 screw drivers you can slightly bent the forks apart... when putting it back in just be sure to use some pliers on the clip and other spring ends to tighten up the ends from coming off as easy.

and to get the drums back on with new pads you must turn down the adjusters.... the adjusters push the pads out which is whats stoping the drum from poping back on.... and before you just crank it all the way down and just slap it on, you need to adjust it so you have a slight drag on the drum when you turn it.... if you dont have any drag keep adjusting. otherwise you wont have much brakes....

 

Some models have cam style adjusters, the concept is the same though, pre-set the adjuster so the drum just goes on over the shoes. Then test drive the car and make several stops while driving in reverse. That actuates the adjusters.

All the parts (except the wheel cylinder and anchor pin) are supposed to "float" around. The drum will determine their final position.

If there is rust on the braking surface of the drum, replace it. But you can have a lot of rust on the outside without hurting anything.

 

Finally managed to put everything together.

I got the u-clip out once i removed the lever from the hand brake cable. It was much easy to remove it once it's was out with two screwdriver and pliers.

Also the reassemble went smooth. I used following order:
- reassemble main spring at the top on both shoes
- attached the adjuster & lever
- slides the shoes assembly behind wheel flange
- reattach the two shoe clamps [helps to stabilize and connect all the springs]
- Attach spring connecting lever and shoes
- Attach Bottom springs connecting both shoes [align shoes properly]
- Make sure the shoes seat perfectly on wheel cylinder
- Use adjuster and tighten enough that the assembly doesn't move [up or down or sidewards] - this is what i was not doing it right when I was trying earlier. Adjustment was not perfect enough. There will be very very minor play - atleast it was in my case . So it was matter of trial error to adjust and trying to slide in with minimum or no play on the assembly.

After finishing the first one, second one took about 45 min-1 hour.

Now for the next step - i read in one of the post that the brakes are self adjusting i.e. it will push the air out once i pedal multiple times. Right now the pedal just pushes in and i tried several times. i don't want to damage master or wheel cylinders. So i think it's time to bleed the brakes.- i will have to search forums for the procedure. If someone has it please post the link?

 

 

If you did not remove the wheel cylinder or disconnect any hydraulic lines, there should be no need to bleed the brakes.

Take the drum off and turn the adjuster bolt wheel to push the shoes out, until there is friction when putting the drum back on (but it does go all the way on by hand). Do the same thing on the other side.

Note that a few of the parts are slightly but importantly different left to right (for example the adjuster bolt is left hand thread versus right hand thread). Be sure you have all the correct parts in the right place.