Need help with drum brakes

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LIblackgt

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Dec 6, 2000

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Center Moriches, Long Island

Jun 12, 2005

#1

• Jun 12, 2005

• #1

Im having a problem with my driverside rear drum brakes. The drums are extremly tight agains the shoes and everything in new. The wheel cylinder is not frozen and is properly working. The drum getts really hot, I can not figur this out. I had two options on drum sise, 9 " or 10 " does anybody know what sise is right for a 1987 GT. Thanks

 

jrichker

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#2

• Jun 12, 2005

• #2

9 inch drum for a Mustang.

 

M

my$100project

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#3

• Jun 12, 2005

• #3

There is a star wheel. Did you make sure it turned freely when you did the install?

 

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LIblackgt

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Center Moriches, Long Island

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#4

• Jun 12, 2005

• #4

The star wheel where the two main springs attach to.

 

HISSIN50

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#5

• Jun 12, 2005

• #5

Are you sure the brake line is in decent shape - no obstructions?

And does the backing plate look like doo doo? I have had so much crud on the plate that the shoes could not slide decently.

Otherwise (and sorta my first thought) is: are you sure all the shoe springs are hooked up correctly and none are broken?

Good luck.

 

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SamSnyder

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Jun 13, 2005

#6

• Jun 13, 2005

• #6

Also, a problem I had on a non-Mustang was that I failed to install the leading and trailing shoes properly. Most drum brake cars have a smaller brake shoe on the side towards the front of the car, and a larger shoe on the rearward side. Often, they even use the same metal part for both, but put a smaller area of friction material on the leading shoe, and a bigger piece on the trailing shoe. But I put mistakenly put both leading shoes on the drivers side and both trailing shoes on the passenger side. It worked fiine for a while, but it was causing an unseen imbalance in braking, that ultimately (and weirdly) caused the front driver side disc pads to wear out and eat the rotor. So you could be having a problem caused by improper installation of the drum brake shoes. To tell the difference between a leading shoe and a trailing shoe you really need to line all four from the set up, so you can see the difference between to 2 leading shoes and the 2 trailing shoes.

 

S

SamSnyder

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#7

• Jun 13, 2005

• #7

Plus, it is really necessary to install all new hardware when you do a drum brake job. Unlike disc brakes, you really should not change just the shoes. They sell a kit of small parts for a drum brake job that costs about $7, but is a must have. It includes all new springs and assorted other small parts. The new springs insure that you are not dragging the brakes, which can happen with weak used springs. Like a couple of cans of brake kleen, it is a mandatory part of any (drum) brake job.

 

HISSIN50

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#8

• Jun 13, 2005

• #8

SamSnyder said:

Plus, it is really necessary to install all new hardware when you do a drum brake job. Unlike disc brakes, you really should not change just the shoes. They sell a kit of small parts for a drum brake job that costs about $7, but is a must have. It includes all new springs and assorted other small parts. The new springs insure that you are not dragging the brakes, which can happen with weak used springs. Like a couple of cans of brake kleen, it is a mandatory part of any (drum) brake job.

Click to expand...

This is wise advice.
If one is intimidated by the springs, do what I do: grab a magnetic parts dish. as you remove springs and other ancillary items, 'stick' them in the dish in the same orientation as they came out (and approx location. I.e. top spring goes in the top of the dish, bottom spring in the bottom of the dish, etc). Then when you crack open the bag of new springs, you can make heads or tails of them. Otherwise it is easy to get the right spring in the right location, but perhaps the spring is backwards (they are not intuitive - I fight them coming and going). A drum brake tool kit might help (I dont use drum-brake-specific tools).

Good luck.

 

Snake1

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Jun 13, 2005

#9

• Jun 13, 2005

• #9

When you're doing drum brakes pull both drums and do one side to completion,leaving the other side untouched will give you a reference where everything goes in case you get screwed up on the hardware installation on the side you're working on.
actually this should be done on the disc brakes as well.

 

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SamSnyder

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Jun 15, 2005

#10

• Jun 15, 2005

• #10

The idea of a drum brake tool is also sound advice. Not to intimidate anyone from doing it themself, but I worked with a guy who was using pliers to pull the spring over the post, the pliers let go, and he smacked himself in the eye, putting it out (no lie). It ain't rocket science and a lot of gas-station Goobers have done drum brake jobs, so the average Joe can do it right. In fact, I am a tweaker (no, not that kind of tweaker) who likes to get it right, and drum brakes definitely benefit from tweaking the adjusting star to get the brake balance just right, so there is a decided benefit from doing it yourself. Just be conscious of this kind of thing. Saving $50 on a brake job would not be worth your sight. Ok, my job here is done........... gotta go..............................