Changing Rear Brake Shoes

Originally posted by Adam B.@Feb 19 2004, 01:54 PM
I was wondering what you all thought about changing the rear brakes. I know mine are low. The parking brake doesn't even stop one of the wheels from rolling. I'm on a very tight budget. My brother brought my car to his automotive class one day for a demonstration on how to change the rear drum. They said it was too rusted to get off. Should I attempt to do it myself? Or is it worth it to save the hastle and have a shop do it? Is it possible that since it's so rusted, that it will be damaged when taking it off and I'd have to buy new parts for it? If so, I'll do it myself, and just upgrade to rear disks....

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Well, depending on how many times you have resurfaced the drum, you may need new ones anyway. The age of your car being what it is, it may be time for new drums.

If the drum is rusted on, sometimes all it takes is to pound the s*** out of it to get it off, and alot of penetrating lubricant.

If you have a shop do it, it will probably run you about $60-80.

-Damon

I'm not that familiar on rear breakes.....So the drum is what the shoe presses against to stop am I correct? Is that inside the big bowl looking thing covering the whole brake assembly?

I've done brake drums in the past but have yet to do it to the Taurus. One of the major problems is getting the drum off. Typically the rear of the drum will rust making it hard to take off the drum. You can sometimes scrape some of the rust off and then hit it with a hammer (non metallic mallet, metal on metal could shatter/crack it). You may also have to back off on the brake shoes with a brake spoon in order to get the drum off as the shoes may also be preventing the drum from coming off as it bumps into the rust around the lip of the drum.

Anyway, just a real pain in the neck overall, you do need some special tools to get the springs off and the clips holding the shoes off. Disc brakes are always a lot easier and they stop better. Can't believe Ford still uses drums in this day and age. It's supposedly a little cheaper than doing discs. Penny wise, pound foolish I say.

I don't know much about drum and am thankfull to have 4 wheel disc. If you need disc help I could help you. sorry.

I say go for it Adam. Don't be afraid to pound the sh*t out of the drum to get it off, sometimes that's just what you gotta do. New drums are cheap anyways if you damage it. Also, with all the springs and junk in there sometimes you can get confused, so I recommend taking a couple digital pictures of eveything after you get the drum off but before you start taking springs n other stuff off. Good luck.

Originally posted by HenrySel@Feb 19 2004, 01:40 PM
You may also have to back off on the brake shoes with a brake spoon in order to get the drum off as the shoes may also be preventing the drum from coming off as it bumps into the rust around the lip of the drum.

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Exactly. Get a brake tool at a local hardware or auto parts store. It looks like a little tiny crowbar. Pull the rubber plug on the backing plate (if you look at the back of the wheel from under the car, you'll see a small oval plug.) There is a little wheel in there with notches around the edges, almost like teeth. Use the brake tool to turn the wheel bit by bit so it retracts the shoes until you can slide the drum off. Sometimes it still takes a whack with a 2x4 to knock the drum loose. I've done this countless times--my Falcon has four-wheel drums, and the self-adjusters are always getting ****ed up.

I have done plenty of disk brake jobs, however my 99 mercury sable will be first drum job. I need to replace rear shoes on it. Can someone tell me how to get the drum off as well as an overview of the procedure? I know I will take pics once I get the drum off to make sure I know where everything went, but does anyone have pics or a how to on changing rear shoes?

Thanks in advance.

Send me and Email, I have a diagram that shows the parts and part names if anyone needs one? If you haven't taken off your drums before or never cleaned them before, beware of the aspestice or espestice or however you spell it, its the shavings that come off your shoes and drums, dont take a air compresser to it,but if you do stand back, and dont breath that stuff in, it can cause cancer.
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You can get the drums off even if they are hella rusted but to expect to do some significant beating and prying. They'll be fine if you reuse the same parts unless they are horribly scored inside (which is unlikely for rear drum brakes since they do so little braking). If you forsee ever doing rear brakes again on this car, though, then I would pick up some cheap drums because it will be that much easier to take apart the next time.

PB BLASTER LOL

A good thing to get is a Haynes Manuel as well, thats what my and dad used when we replaced the shoes on the back of my bull, one of the shoes had a crack in the material, dunno what caused it but we bought it like that

My rear drums always squel when they are cold. Worse if it has rained.?

Whats the cause & whats the fix.

The drums/pads where changed about 20 k miles ago. I got the drums & shoes from advance auto.. not great quality but linda ok stuff.?

Switch to original equipment rear shoes.