First time touching drum brakes .. a little stuck

[pedrobedro]

Is it for fitting those shoe retaining springs that you push & twist the washer over the pin? Can't describe them any other way, the ones that hold the shoe to the backplate.

Hold down pins with a half turn washer, I use snipe nose pliers with a groove cut in the jaws to hold the washer and push against the spring. They are specially adapted with a hacksaw.

 

[wristpin]

If anyone knows what the top tool is also, please pipe up also, its sat in the drawer with the forked tool and I've never quite figured out what its for.

As above, for refitting those retainer / anti rattle thingies.

 

[Ashley Burton]

I'm sad & own one of these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-258121-Brake-Spring-Washer/dp/B00NWX64QQ

 

[rtcosic]

I'm glad you got it done, but I couldn't help but smile to myself.

Reminded me of no 2 son who rebuild girlfriend's beetle engine due to leaking pushrod tube thingies.
They did it all properly - full engine out job. But I got a 'please help' phone call as they couldn't start it. Talked through the usual diagnostic steps then remembered errors I had made in the past. Check you haven't timed it on the back of the cam instead of the front says I.
Er timing says son what's that. He had only ever dealt with fuel injected ecu equipped cars before - plug and play. Once I explained how to time it away it went first turn of the key.

I can do drums without engaging brain but have to think carefully about discs.

The other learned the hard way? Had an Alvis TA21. Did a standard service plugs, points etc all carefully gapped and reset static timing. Could I start it - er no. Much head scratching until I notice the rotor arm looked odd - only car I ever had where the distributor rotated CLOCKWISE. Never assume!

 

[CompoSimmonite]

I tried to find a bolt in my 'might come in handy' box but had nothing that would fit.

Its all off now, cleaned up ready to put back together.

On my SIIA I found the drum retaining screw was the required thread to fit the threaded hole on the drum to push it off the hub.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

I'm glad you got it done, but I couldn't help but smile to myself.

Reminded me of no 2 son who rebuild girlfriend's beetle engine due to leaking pushrod tube thingies.
They did it all properly - full engine out job. But I got a 'please help' phone call as they couldn't start it. Talked through the usual diagnostic steps then remembered errors I had made in the past. Check you haven't timed it on the back of the cam instead of the front says I.
Er timing says son what's that. He had only ever dealt with fuel injected ecu equipped cars before - plug and play. Once I explained how to time it away it went first turn of the key.

I can do drums without engaging brain but have to think carefully about discs.

The other learned the hard way? Had an Alvis TA21. Did a standard service plugs, points etc all carefully gapped and reset static timing. Could I start it - er no. Much head scratching until I notice the rotor arm looked odd - only car I ever had where the distributor rotated CLOCKWISE. Never assume!

I bought a 3 year old, S reg, Skoda Estelle from local garage as "spares or repair" as they couldn't get it to run. I spotted mistake straight away and only paid them £200. They had the spark plug leads the wrong way round as the engine "front" faces backwards

 

[CompoSimmonite]

Next time you do it, or to reassemble without grief, get hold of one of the old lucas girling brake shoe spanners or make something similar.
Its the bottom one in this shot, the fork has a section cut out in the middle of it so the forks straddle the centre rib of the shoe. I can get a better photo of mine if you need more clarity.
I always used to hate doing car drum brakes, but on the 101 with this, it was a pleasure to do while remembering all the other times and thinking "why didnt I get one of these years ago".

I keep on meaning to get one of the bottom tools. For last 40 years I have been using Mole wrench to do the same job BTW Mole wrench method only works if there is a portion of the shoe without friction material where it can be attached.

 

[MrFluffy]

Hold down pins with a half turn washer, I use snipe nose pliers with a groove cut in the jaws to hold the washer and push against the spring. They are specially adapted with a hacksaw.

Cool thanks, I've been using pliers to do this even after owning the funny tool thingy. I'll give it a whizz next time I have a drum brake apart.

 

[owas]

On my SIIA I found the drum retaining screw was the required thread to fit the threaded hole on the drum to push it off the hub.

Neither drum had a retaining screw on, ive orderd some now.

Id prefer disks, but once ive put some good quality parts on(i.e not a blue box) i shouldnt have to touch this again.

 

[normspanners]

If anyone knows what the top tool is also, please pipe up also, its sat in the drawer with the forked tool and I've never quite figured out what its for.

GIRLING 64947082 truck brake shoe spring fitting tool.

 

[normspanners]

I keep on meaning to get one of the bottom tools. For last 40 years I have been using Mole wrench to do the same job BTW Mole wrench method only works if there is a portion of the shoe without friction material where it can be attached.

large cheap adjustable spanner also works on shoes and linings just screw the adjuster till there is no gap between the jaws and lining and that doesnt damage the linings . Coz the cheap ones tend to have wide jaws

 

[500e]

Do you mean these


Or these ? they are a pain

 

[Turbo]

One tip I can give to anyone working on drum brakes is to only strip one side at a time, then you have an idea on how to reassemble them. Even if you've worked on them before all vehicles are not the same & it's easy to forget where a spring or clip goes.

If you're working on Peugeots you need to bring your old brake parts with you when going for new ones. Peugeot had a tendency to chop & change suppliers of brake parts during production. Year, model, reg, chassis number mean nothing even at the dealers, you usually have to rely on the pictures in the catalogue for guidance.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

One tip I can give to anyone working on drum brakes is to only strip one side at a time, then you have an idea on how to reassemble them. Even if you've worked on them before all vehicles are not the same & it's easy to forget where a spring or clip goes.

That's what cameras on phones are for......

 

[owas]

Im going to attempt to do it after work on tuesday, with a work light .. why make things easy

The other thing he failed me on was smoke,
Easy i thought, ill just tweak the pump its probably been turned up, bloody pin is siezed solid managed to get it rotating but thats about it, im not touching the throttle linkage because i wont get it back on properly again

A puff of black smoke when you put your foot down than clear shouldnt be a fail ,should it?

 

[slim_boy_fat]

Im going to attempt to do it after work on tuesday, with a work light .. why make things easy

The other thing he failed me on was smoke,
Easy i thought, ill just tweak the pump its probably been turned up, bloody pin is siezed solid managed to get it rotating but thats about it, im not touching the throttle linkage because i wont get it back on properly again

A puff of black smoke when you put your foot down than clear shouldnt be a fail ,should it?

Does the Italian tune-up just before booked MOT time work on these?

 

[owas]

Does the Italian tune-up just before booked MOT time work on these?

My garage is next door to work, i give it to them at 8 and let them fit it in anytime till 5.
Weirdly when he was explaining what to check with the brakes, he said dont worry about the smoke .. erm why fail me on that then ill clarifly with him tomorow, i dont quite understand how the pin works so i dont want to try freeing it and risk screwing the whole thing up, it runs fine now

 

[Robotstar5]

Neither drum had a retaining screw on, ive orderd some now.

Id prefer disks, but once ive put some good quality parts on(i.e not a blue box) i shouldnt have to touch this again.

Chap I work with had a 1986 ex-army 90 and had a game getting the right pads for the front, autoparts shop eventually identified them as LDV parts!

I fitted a later model disc braked back axle complete to my drum braked 90 as I got got fed up with the brakes squealing 10 minutes after I'd cleaned them out

 

[8ob]

Another thing with landrovers and a few other trucks is the position of the brake slave cylinder, there are quite a few makers that dont fit the cylinder at 12 oclock which leaves a small air pocket that wont bleed out of one piston . You can either jack the car up to correct this prior to bleeding or clamp the pistons back and bleed before fitting the shoes. Some of the older landrovers were piped so the bleed nipples were facing down which meant the only way to bleed them was to pump fluid up through the system and vent into the master cylinder, god only knows what the design team were thinking

 

[rtbcomp]

The best way I've found to deal with that is to pump the pedal quickly when bleeding them, the fluid seems to scoop up the air and expel it. I've even heard of people taking the backplate off to bleed the brakes (front 2LS Landy 109).