Drum Bakes

I might sound like a idiot but I never worked on drum brakes before. Well anyway I recently bought a 86' Escort exp and it needed the C.V. joint replaced on it so I dicided to replace it because I thought the C.V. joint would be the same as my 88' corrolla that I replaced on it well as it turns out it was a little different but I still figured it out...except for the drum brakes I just cant figure out how to get them back on the wheel it just dosn't bleed and go on like a regular disk brake :banghead: Please give me all of your input you can aboult my situation thanks it would be greatly appreceated late.

Drum brakes are totally different than disc brakes. To bleed them you will need to loosen the bleeder screw,just like on disc brakes, push the two actuators back into the wheel cylinder by hand and then put you should be able to put the drum back on. If not adjust the brake adjuster at the bottom all the way in, this should give you the necessary amount of clearance. To bleed the system, place a hose over the bleeder valve, then into a bottle containing some brake fluid. Close the valve and have someone pump the brakes up, release the bleeder screw, do this several times until all the air is out of the system. Tighten the screw and repeat on the other side.

He doesn't need to "bleed" the brakes, but rather relieve pressure so the pads will be in tighter, to allow room for the drum to fit over them. i.e. on disk brakes, you can use a c-clamp to force the piston back into the caliper when youget new pads and need the clearance to get the caliper and new pads back on. It sounds like his pads stick too far out keeping him from getting the drum back on.

He still needs to release the pressure in the wheel cylinder in order to push the plungers back in to the center of the cylinder. By doing this he will then need to bleed the system to bring it up to operating condition. If he cannot get enough clearance by doing this he can reduce the size of the adjusting screw at the bottom to bring the bottom of the shoes closer together. If he is using new shoes and old drums he may need to have them turned down as there is a lip that develops as the result of the drum wearing once this is done there should be no problem in putting them back on. If he is using new drums then this step is not necessary.