Rear drum brakes

Help! I am changing the brake pads on my 98 windstar gl. The front pads went fine. I have changed brake pads on several other vehicles and never run into this problem. It starts out like this. I had a difficult time getting the the rear drum off. I thought that I just wasnt getting the star backed off enough on the auto adjuster. But when I got the drum off the star was backed off all the way. Ok I changed the pads and now there is no way I can get the drum back on. If I bend the brakes inward I can start the drum on the pads but it will only go on about half way. So my question is !: Is there something to disconnect on the abs brakes? 2: I thought maybe I could just take a clamp and push the pistons back in together but they wont even budge. That would be similar to the front caliper method. Do I just need to open the bleeder valve? I dont understand why the wheel cylinder pistons wont move. Its like they are stuck. Maybe I just need to get new wheel cylinders or rebuild the old ones. Thanks in advance. Gotta get to work.:rofl:

dhame47,

I'm confused so lets start from the beginning. Answer these 3 questions:

1. What type of brakes are on the back (pads/shoes)? I'm assuming shoes based on your writing, but you keep referring to them as pads ?

2. You mentioned you changed the front pads and everything went well .... do you mean today or before today ?

3. If you changed you front pads today, did you take some brake fluid out of the Mater Cylindar ?

AvalonJohn

I understand what you are describing, but I don't remember any problem collapsing the rear cylinder when I did mine ... but it was a tight fit to get the drums around the new shoes.

Make sure your hand brake is fully off and that the cable has fully relaxed ... sometimes they stick in the protective coverings. After that, I don't see anything wrong with bleeding off some fluid to make sure the cylinder pistons are in full retract position(s).

Might help to take the cap off the master cylinder.

It's a tight fit on mine too, on and off.

Good point!

You may have back up fluid from the front wheels to the master cylinder when you replaced the front pads. If not already corrected, the master cylinder may be now overfilled ... with now nowhere for fluid to go.

On mine I had to adjust the star wheel/ adjuster all the way in to get the drum over the new shoes. Once the drum was on I adjusted the star wheel so the drum just ever so slightly drags on the shoes. You could also have a wheel cylinder that may be seized (which happened on my '99 Taurus).

I had the very same problem with my 2000. I thought that the aftermarket drums I bought were no good so I tried 2 different brands and the drums still were too tight. I tried Motorcraft drums and got the same results. I checked and rechecked everything and I was convinced that the new wheel cylinders were fully compressed and that the shoes were fully compressed and the drum still would not go on. (All new hardware and adjusters). I finally forced them on and took it for a run. After only a couple of miles, the brakes freed up and have been fine for about a year. My only conclusion was that possibly the aftermarket shoes were slightly thicker than should have been? Good luck.

I love rear drums because of their reliability and simplicity, but they can be a PITA to work on. I know on my 2001 LX, you have to remove the drums to access the star wheel adjuster. No access port thru the backing plate :rolleyes: . I gave the hub area a blast with my air chisel, then rocked/yanked until the drums slid off. Luckily my dealership replaced the shoes about 1.5yrs ago, so the drums were not too horrible to remove. It's just that they were rusted so badly, they were out of round causing the shoes to rock/slap against the inside of the drums on light braking. The noise drove me so nuts I had to replace the drums. I got an awesome deal on new drums from CarQuest @ $35/ea. They are from China, but were machined very well and have been flawless for a few months now. To get the new ones on, I compressed the wheel cylinders some, got the shoes carefully started inside the drum and rocked/tapped until the drums were fully seated. My flabby out of shape body was sore the next day.

Joel

Hello

When you put the shoes on did you get the bottom of the shoes behind the retainer tab (lack of a better term) on the bottom? If the shoes aren't behind this it will not be possible to get them pulled in tight enough to get the drum on.

I just had to replace the shoes on my 95. The lining came off of one of the shoes and would lock up the wheel. Boy....did that wake me up when the wheel locked up.

Regards

Dan

I've used a hammer. Tap lightly then rock and rotate them back and forth. They'll eventually go on/off.

I really want to thank all you guys and gals for your input and help. I havent gotten back to the brakes yet but should try again tomorrow. I do believe I have tried everything that you guys have come up with. I think I still have to bleed some fluid off and maybe the brake shoes will collapse enough to get the drum back on. That is the only thing I havent tried. Thanks again for everyones input.:2cents:

Bleeding the brakes doesn't help. All you have to do is to put a C clamp on the ends of the wheel cylinder an slowly force the wheel cylinder pistons in as far as they will go. ( dont put too much pressure with the C clamp though)This will return the fluid to the master cylinder. Make sure that there is enough room for the fluid to return to the M.C and after you have the drums back on, slowly pump the brake pedal and you will take up the clearance in that drum