I am about to change my drum brakes on my Taurus and have been told a "special tool" (other than a standard hooked prybar thingie) is required; can anyone confirm this and suggest where I can get one?

Also, how do you know which direction to turn the tensioner inside the drum with whatever tool you end up using? Is there a "rule of thumb"?

I am about to change my drum brakes on my Taurus and have been told a "special tool" (other than a standard hooked prybar thingie) is required; can anyone confirm this and suggest where I can get one?

Also, how do you know which direction to turn the tensioner inside the drum with whatever tool you end up using? Is there a "rule of thumb"?

You need the hooked prybar thingie

You need the tool that compresses the shoe spring and turn it 90 degrees

a screwdriver will do the adjusters

I can never remember which way to turn the but the drum will get looser or tighter so just play with it

That's all you need.

Mike
:smokin:

u can use a pair of angled pliers to get the shoe hold down spring, as long as ur not replacing all the hardware...as to the adjuster...pushing it down will loosen it...up will tighten it...no special tool...just normal brake drum tools...u might want to replace ur wheel cylinders....bet their frozen by now

Was not nearly as bad as I expected. One of the cylinders was in fact frozen so I went ahead and replaced both.