Rear Brake Shoe Replacement:

 

Getting ready to replace rear brake shoes:

Anything having to do with the brake system is very dirty. You will at least want some latex gloves, brake cleaner and a pair of overalls to cover your clothes. You will get dirty. The first step in doing your rear brakes is to take the wheel off. Take a 19mm socket and break the lug nuts loose on the wheel that you want to remove. A 19mm socket with a large breaker bar is best. Next chock the front wheel on that side with a large block of wood or a brick. Release the emergency brake. Now jack up the rear of the van and finish removing the rear wheel. Once the wheel is off you will see the drum with two small 11mm bolts holding it in place. Remove these and now you can get the drum off. Many times the drum is stuck on there pretty good with rust, etc. Hitting with a hammer in the space between the lug studs in a side to side and up and down pattern should shock the drum loose. Usually after doing this for about 30 seconds you will see a puff of dust and the drum will be loose. If it is still stuck you might want to try some heat on the center of the drum with a small torch if you have one. Once the drum is off you can spray everything down with brake cleaner so that you can see what is going on in there.

You should be looking at something like this:



You can click on the picture to get the bigger version. Probably your version won't look so shiny and will still have the center hub installed but I wanted to show you everything without anything in the way so I took the hub out.

 

Drum Inspection: Inspect your drum around the edge where the brake shoes touch. Is the drum smooth or does it have lines and is rough to the touch? You want a smooth drum. If you are in doubt take your drum to a local machine shop where they can check to see if it is worn out (inside diameter wear limit is stamped on your drum it is 253mm or 9.960 inches) and also machine it smooth again. If you get your drums machined you must do it in pairs. Also you will need to have your new shoes radiused match the machined drums. I personally don’t think it is worth the trouble or expense. There are not many machine shops left that actually know how to do a good job on this one. My recommendation is to get a set of new drums and new shoes if your old drums are damaged at all or if you are getting a pulsing pedal. A brand new drum will be needed if your old one cannot be machined. With brakes a rule of thumb is that you should always replace brake parts in pairs. If you need a new drum on one side, then you should replace both at the same time.

Rear Wheel Cylinder Inspection: Next inspect the rear wheel cylinder. Pull the boots back one at a time and look under them. It should be totally dry under the boots. They do not keep fluid in, the only keep dust from getting in this area. If it is juicy looking under one of the boots then the rear wheel cylinder is bad and should be replaced immediately.

Brake Shoe Inspection: Next take a look at the shoes. Any wear will be at the top half of the shoes. One shoe only does the emergency brake so this normally doesn't show much wear. Look at the one toward the front of the van. This one is doing the stopping work when you push the brake pedal. The original thickness should be 6mm (a little less than a 1/4"). The wear limit is 2.5mm (a little more than a 1/16th of an inch). If you can see that the rivets that hold the pads on have been touching the drum even just a little then you know that the shoes need to be replaced.

Rear brake shoe removal:

First remove the two shoe retaining springs. These are the little springs that are found in the center of the shoe and have a metal clip holding them in place. You can buy a special tool for this from Sears for a few dollars. I use a pair of needle nose vise grips and I think they work best for me. Get a grip on the round clip and push it toward the shoe and give it a twist and the clip should come off allowing the spring to also come off. Remove the two studs that act as clip retainers from the rear of the backing plate. Set everything in a specific place like a small box, bag or plastic bin so that you don't loose anything. Next use a screw driver and pry the bottom foot of the shoe out of the retainer so that it can move toward the center of the hub. Do this to both shoes. Now go to the adjuster wheel. Turn it until you have adjusted it all of the way in. You should be able to take a screw driver and pry it out of the center between the two shoes. This is located immediately below the wheel cylinder. Once the adjuster is out of the way, pry the top to feet of the shoes out of the wheel cylinder and let them come in to the center. You should now be able to reach in with a screw driver right below the wheel cylinder. You will see that two large springs attach there and they hold tension of the brake shoes toward the center. Use your screwdriver to pry these loose. The brake shoes should be almost off at this point. Go back to the bottom of the shoes and unhook the spring that goes from side to side with a pair of needle nose pliers or those vise grips. Finally take the shoe that is to the rear of the van and move it backwards away from the center until you have unhooked the arm that attaches to the emergency brake cable. Now both rear shoes should be off and you can finish removing any springs that are still installed. As I have said you want to keep everything in a box so that you don't lose anything.

Brake Shoe Reinstallation:

Get your new shoes out of the box (hopefully you bought them from us:-). While the shoes are off take some time to clean the backing plate with brake cleaner. If your rear wheel cylinder is bad replace it now. The first step in reinstalling your brake shoes is to put that spring back that connects the two bottom holes on the shoe set. Next be sure to hook the arm back into the emergency brake cable end and move the shoes up into position on the backing plate. Now snap the two bottom feet into position. Install the two large springs that are right below the rear wheel cylinder. This is tight but you should be able to do it with a screw driver. Be sure that the little hooks on the end of the springs are to the bottom (see picture) and not at the top. Now install your adjuster. Again you should look at the picture. You want to be sure that the fat part of the adjuster arm goes behind the emergency brake handle. This is what makes the e-brake work! Also be sure that the other end (toward the front of the van) the square side goes in toward the van. You may have to pry on the shoes a little to get the adjuster in there. Once it is in place you should pry the top of the shoes until you can put them in the slot of the rear wheel cylinder. If you need to you can turn the slots on the rear wheel cylinders until they line up with the shoes with a screw driver. Once the tops of the shoes are in place you need to get the posts for the centering springs pushed back into place through the rear of the backing plate. Hold the post in place with one hand and put the spring over the stud that sticks out through the center of the shoe. Now get your clip ready and push it onto the stud, compressing the spring and giving it a half turn to lock it in place. You may have to try it a couple of times but it is pretty simple. Now you just have to reinstall the spring that tensions the self adjuster arm (see picture) and you should be done. Put the drum on and step on the pedal a few times to center the shoes. If you need to bleed a new rear wheel cylinder, do it now.

 

Adjusting Rear Brakes:

This is actually a very critical step. If you install everything properly but don’t adjust them properly they will feel poor and not work the way they should. To adjust your rear brakes you will need to turn the star wheel on the adjuster. You want to turn the wheel to make the adjuster longer. This pushes the shoes out against the drums. I usually turn the adjuster ten clicks and then try to put the drum on. If it goes on easily then I remove it and go ten more clicks and try again. Do this until the drum will not go on. Now back it off five clicks and try again. You want the drum to slide on with no problem but you want it as tight as you can get and it will still do this. You want to be able to freely turn the drum, yet hear a slight drag as the shoes are lightly touching it. Try your e-brake. You should have about three clicks. That is it. Now your rear brakes should work as they are supposed to and self adjust.

My purpose in doing this how-to is to take some of the fear out of doing your brakes so that maybe folks will actually check them out. If you find you need any of these parts please feel free to call us or order them on-line through our webstore. At Van-Again we stock premium brake parts made around the world. We do plenty of brake work here so we know the best quality parts at the best prices.

 

Thanks,

Ken Wilford

www.vanagain.com

 

Copyright 2008

John 3:16