@#&@^ Drum Brakes!!

Been fighting these damn things for the past hour and I've just about lost my patience. Had to replace an axle seal and of course the brakes had to be taken apart. Easy enough. Putting them back together has been a real pain in the ***. I think I'd rather take an *** whoopin' as to fight with these friggen drum brakes. Think my next rod will have 4 wheel disc.!! 'Course I'm doing this without the proper brake tools which I'm sure makes all the difference in the world. Gonna take a break and maybe start fresh in the morning. Sorry for the rant but I do feel a bit better already.

 

Waaa Waaaa......really?

 

that's funny....my kid is out there putting the drum brakes back together on his truck, it's taking him for ever, and he's using the brake tools. When I was his age....I didn't have the tools, and I could get them done pretty darn quick.

 

Slow down and explain the problem carefully. Where are you in the project? What year brakes? I looked at the disc brakes on a new Mercedes and wished for the old Ford Lockheed system. Too many things to mess up on the new ones.

Charlie Stephens

 

The couple of times I did drums, I only had basic hand tools and patience. Now, I have the brake tools, but none of my current vehicles has drum brakes. Kinda figures.

 

this place is full of these guys anymore.

 

Welcome to cool, not everyone is allowed in

 

Since I bought brake pliers years ago, I've never had drums they would work on. I still go back to the tried and true vice grips.

 

i have zero patience and almost as much skill but I got it done - except for the bleeding which I had to get help with. i doubt disk brakes would be easier?

 

4 wheel disc, really??? Has it come to this?......I think the job is the same with or without the tool......

 

You need a big flat screwdriver and a pair of channel locks. That's all the proper tools you need. The official stuff makes it easier but not that much. Take a deep breath, sometimes you just gotta be smarter than the materials you are working with.


Tim

 

Drum brakes tough to work on. Oh my!

 

How about the new 8.8 Ford rear, with rear disc brakes? If you want a challenge, that one's worse than the late '70s Cadillacs. (with the E-brake adjustment in the calipers)

What brake are you guys using 'brake pliers' and 'channelocks' on??? Not Bendix, or Lockheed I hope. (Let's see, what else is there?...) LOL

 

this shouldent take you more the 5 mins per wheel

 

What year and model vehicle brakes are you working on?

 

Just don't take both sides apart at the same time either...leave one side together to use as a guide as to how all the pieces go back together. You don't need special tools.

 

they make tools for drums Lol all I ever used was plyers and a screwdriver.

 

I can bleed on my own with out help. But getting the air out of my hydraulics I need help with.

 

thank you! I needed a good laugh today.

I have the same spring instal tool and retainer keeper tool I've had since the 60s. best .49 I ever spent.

Russ

 

There on my '66 F100. For some reason these are just givin' me fits today. Maybe some of you guys can do this in 5 minutes but I sure as hell cant. Oh well, I'll get 'er done eventually. Just curious, is there a proper approach or order that makes 'em go easier? I'm do the point of trying to get the wire cable hooked up and the adjuster in place but it aint workin' yet. Then I guess I'll hook up the two larger springs and that should do it.

 

True with a set of Snapon brake spring pliers and the tool to remove and replace the springs that hold the shoes to the backing plates. At one time in the 70's I often did 5 or 6 brake jobs a day on drum brake cars and got pretty good at it. But these days even with the same tools my battered old hands are getting slower every time I do a set of brakes which isn't too often anymore.

 

I thought that was what the channel locks were for... I seem to bleed every time I use mine!

 

I still use my set of Sears brake pliers and KD hold down tool and a Snap-On brake s****, had them since 1976. I was doing drum brakes for a living when discs were new and a mystery. I can still do them pretty fast, but haven't done any in a few years since I junked my '84 Chevy wagon.

Bob

 

I will admit disks are easier to work on but never in a million years would I put them on a hot rod.

 

Drum brakes are about as basic as you can get. I've always said "If a job is worth doing, it's worth buying the right tool". I'm putting four wheel Buick drims on my sedan project.

 

on a seriuose note, I leave the adjusters out untill the very last. Then I just spread the lower part of the shoes apart and install it last. Then get help with the hydraulics. { can only get so much mileage out of a joke}

 

It's those damn self adjusters that are messing him up. get rid of that ****. But good luck finding the non-self adjuster hardware you need!

 

i like doing drum brakes, in tech school, teacher used to switch parts from side to side or parts from different cars while we had them apart. that's the way to learn. now it takes a while to do a brake job, 40-80+year old brakes need more attention than when they were newer, worn backing plates, bent parts, rust, hunting parts, fixing what the last guy did to name a few of the things that slow the process down.

 

It is about a 5 minute job! I cant believe people have so much trouble with drums. They are pretty basic. Good luck getting them back together, take your time. Then, when you get it done. Rip it apart, throw all the parts in a heap and do it like 10 more times. You'll catch on.

 

YOU NEED one of these. I've had the same one for years and it's never let me down. Been doing drum brake for the last 20 years and can get a wheel done in about 10-15 mins each. (with cleaning, etc).