So I finally found the time to do the drums on my wife's 03. The last time I tried I couldn't find the adjuster to loosen the pads. I ended up having to put the tire back on and lower it before I was able to even get the drum off. On this attempt I had a brake spoon and removing the drum went very smoothly. I was able to disassemble the entire drivers side drum. My problem now is reattatching the parking brake lever to the cable. There is the spring wrapped around the cable and it needs to be pulled towards the front of the car to reattatch the lever. My problem is I can't get the spring pushed back far enough for the lever to be reattatched. I have a Haynes manual and they recommend using plier cutter to catch the spring, pull back, then attatch the lever. I can't pull it back far enough nor do I have enough room to get all these tools in this small area. I have vice grips on the end of the cable. Any one have any hints, tips, tricks, advice for me? Also if all else fails would it do any harm to drive this car with an empty drum. There is a Car X brake shop less than a mile away. If I can't figure this out I would like to be able to just drive it there. The passenger side is still intact but the pads are worn to the bare metal! HELP

under neath theres 2 cables running into one you need to loosen nut and when you get it attached then tightenyour nut up but not to tight or it'll where your back shoe.like leave a little play in it.good luck.

scrapper1

Yes, it would be bad to drive with an empty drum. The first time you step on the brake pedal the wheel cylinder will explode the ends off and leak your brake fluid into the drums and onto the ground.

If the brakes came apart this way, you shouldn't need to loosen the parking brake cable y-thingy. You should be able to rotate the parking brake lever arm, while attached to the brake shoe, out enough to be able to hook the parking brake cable with tools. Once the cable is attached, then you can assemble the rest of the springs and attach the hardware to the backing plate. The parking brake cable should be the first thing you attach when assembling the brakes, just like it was probably the last thing you disconnected when taking them apart.

If you don't have the special-use pliers available to you, I find a diagonal cutters, like your Haynes manual suggests, work well to hold the spring back out of the way.

One thing you will want to be aware of though is that they two rear parking brake assemblies may share a common cable at the y-thingy, so if you have the brake shoe assembly on the opposite side hanging off the parking brake cable, that may be contributing to not having enough cable slack to compress the spring.

I know these cables can be difficult, but it's easier to do than it is to explain how to do it.... Sorry.
-Rod

Thanks I appreciate the responses. I am glad I asked about driving this thing! Sounds like things would have got messy had I taken it out. I am going to give this thing another shot when I am done with work so I will let everyone know how it goes and I will be back with more questions soon!

Drum Brakes: 1 Me: 0

I gave up and had the car towed to Car X. I wish I never would have removed the damn cable from the lever. Was that even necessary? I wasn't planning on replacing the lever. I am assuming the Haynes manual is assuming you will replace that and that is why they have you remove it.