Rear Brake Drum

[captainkephart]

Hi Marc and Mike,
mmm that doesn't seem to work on mine ...

Even putting a thin screwdriver through the wheel nut holes and tilting the tip towards the outside as much as possible, there's no SHL (shiny handbrake lever) there. Screwdriver goes right to back plate.
I've gradually turned the drum right round, feeling as I go. Yup, cylinder there, autoadjuster yes, bottom pivot there ... but no SHL.

Spoke to local good engineer (race car standard who's worked on most types of cars), and he suggests no option but to keep bashing / furtling. His view was that as:
a) lower pivot point is fixed (two studs below the bottom string), and
b) the the brake cylinder / adjuster is also 'fixed' then no advantage is gained by the SHL technique (on my setup anyway).

He also said that on some drums there are threaded holes so you can screw in bolts which push against the bearing flange and so drum comes off. Or is this rubbish?

Will have to wait till next week now ... the new parts that were in a box when I bought the car aren't the right ones!

Ciao, Capn K

[myglaren]

Always disliked drum brake furtling and often ended up using American techniques (Brute Force & Ignorance).

Some could be induced to let go using the holes in the backplate and plenty of profanity but some only responded to being levered off.

Last one was a Volvo 265 but that was easy, just handbrake drums, the stop-you-quick ones were discs.
Prior to that was the dreaded Hillman Imps, c:a 1982.

[GiveMeABreak]

I'm not going to much more help on this either - as I've always had discs at the rear on my Citroens (apart from the C3 and the C15) - and those went to the dealer to do!

[moizeau]

I had a similar problem with my Dispatch. It wouldn't budge more than a couple of mm for love, money or swearing. I borrowed a very large 3 legged puller. I expected it to wreck many things on the way off but had no choice. The puller brought it off nice and squarely and didn't damage anything. Large 3 legged puller is the way to go.

[Michel]

Does the old method of "hit with a lump hammer, rotate 1/4 turn, hit again etc" not work with modern drums then? Never had a problem removing any drums in the past.

Detest drum brakes, hate furtling them, always had "fun" with a variety of mechanisms inside but never actually had a problem removing a drum.

[Dormouse]

When I remove brake drums I put a slight chamfer on the lip with a grinder disc/flap wheel. I don't normally do it on new drums but once they are used you can see where the edge of the shoes reach on the drum and I chamfer just short of that mark. It makes it way easier to remove as virtually no lip forms on the drum and you still have the full contact area.

[NewcastleFalcon]

Brake Drums went into my personal Room 101. Useful FCF service for dumping those things that annoy, irritate or generally get on your personal wick.

Room 101 Open for Deposits

..and bringing up the 200 replies.....

Drum brakes and all the silly springs, handbrake linkages, adjusters, and primus inter pares these ridiculous fasteners



Regards Neil

[moizeau]

Does the old method of "hit with a lump hammer, rotate 1/4 turn, hit again etc" not work with modern drums then? Never had a problem removing any drums in the past.

Detest drum brakes, hate furtling them, always had "fun" with a variety of mechanisms inside but never actually had a problem removing a drum.

I think it's down to auto handbrake adjusters, they leave next to no clearance between shoe and drum. Also, with mine, the shoes were slightly cocked.

[Gibbo2286]

Michel's bash and turn has always worked although a 'lump hammer' might be a bit excessive.
You're all spoiled with this modern stuff, should have a go at the old Bendix self energising cable brake set up.
I also came across this recently which might interest some of you:
https://brakebetter.com/category/brakes/

[captainkephart]

Hi All,

Thanks for the suggestions, just hit it harder seems to be the theme.
Can you actually smash the drums to bits, one suggestion I was given ...

I've contrived a home-made puller which I'll try monday - isn't that what holidays are for
Will post photos in due course!

Also, when the front pads get low, does it make the ABS come on occasionally?

Ciao Capn K

PS: brake better article, yes, well, maybe less people would help in time?

[captainkephart]

Hi All,

Well, I did get the drum off, with a home-made extractor (see photo below).

But first I tried some of the suggestions to release the shoes from catching on the lip inside the drum, but these didn't work for me (refer to photo for numbers):

1. Try to turn the auto-adjuster knob back. With stiff wire (actually a metal kebab skewer), I could lift the non-return lever, then see the knob. But the bottom part I could see needed to be pulled towards me and my skewer couldn't hook it (on the offside it might work as that one needs to be pushed in).

2. There are these plastic plugs. A suggestion (Haynes manual for 2002 picasso) was to take it out and look to see how worn the shoes are. If not, ain't broke so don't fix it! But on the 2003+ cars the plugs are not near the edge of the back plate, so no help.

3. Next was xantia_v6's suggestion. But on mine the handbrake lever is on the drum side / outside of the shoe, so you can't push it back (in fact you can't even see the lever through the wheel nut holes - green circles on the photo).

So after some 'lever, hammer and turn' exercise there was enough of a gap between the back plate and the drum edge to get the flange of the g-clamps in place. Took a bit of twisting and 'delicate' bashing but eventually came off! Hurrah!

Of course, the silly spring things (4) had snapped. But I had bought a 'rear brake kit' which includes new brake cylinders, springs and auto-adjusters (all well worthwhile).

After retrieving spring, washer and pin from various parts of the driveway for the nth time, I came up with this socket gadget. It's still fiddly to get the pin in the slot in the washer, but much easier to push and control ...

Hope some of this helps.
Ciao, Capn K

[GiveMeABreak]

Well you've oodles more patience than I have. I would of replaced the whole thing and be done with it. Why they never just fitted discs to the rears too I can't fathom. It surely would of been cheaper to do that than fit these Carlos Fandango things. 11/10 for effort and perseverance.

[captainkephart]

Hi Marc,
Thanks v much ... but patience or pig stubborn?
That's the thing, I couldn't work out how to replace it all ... is that including the swinging arm?
Until the drums off you can't release back plate, or am I missing something ...
Capn K

[Hell Razor5543]

That took plenty of Percy Wotsits, as our friend Citronut would have said.

[GiveMeABreak]

Hi Marc,
Thanks v much ... but patience or pig stubborn?
That's the thing, I couldn't work out how to replace it all ... is that including the swinging arm?
Until the drums off you can't release back plate, or am I missing something ...
Capn K

I was thinking more this sort of approach: