Changing drum brakes

I took them all apart and now i'm very very confused, is there a diagram or a picture of how all these arms and springs go? I have an idea of it but I gotta be sure what goes where and how it faces.

The reason I took the other side off already is because I'm trying to work as fast as possible and I'm repainting the mechanical arms, which takes a day to dry each time.

oh, bad move.

The hard part is it's reverse oposite for each side because of forward momentum and the parking brake.

Hopefully someone will come along with a digital camaera for ya, I would but kids broke it, :sorry:

come to think, try autozone on line for the repair manual section, might have a pic there :dunno: the springs are color codes as to which one goes where on it's respective side, but it's been a bit of time on one of these so I couldn't honestly tell ya off my head.

Also, does anyone have a good idea for drepressing the parking brake spring to get the arm back on? It took a lot of work just getting it off

reverse oposite

:grinno:

I'd take a picture of mine for you, but I've got so much shit apart on mine I don't want to make even MORE work for myself. If you're still messed up in a week let me know and I'll take pic's for you and post them, I should have most of my other crap done by then... I hope.

:grinno:

I'd take a picture of mine for you, but I've got so much shit apart on mine I don't want to make even MORE work for myself. If you're still messed up in a week let me know and I'll take pic's for you and post them, I should have most of my other crap done by then... I hope.

not sure if we have the same brakes, but I appreciate it Jim

well so far, without touching the parking brake line, I've managed to put together the brakes off of the car, testing out what goes where.

Also autozone has a blowup of the design, even though it seems a bit different, I don't have a pawl lever or whatever it is. If I just keep following that I should be good but I still can't pull the parking brake line back.

I won't be able to do the other side for a while...i found a crushed brake line, and wasn't too happy, that sets me back a week in finishing the brakes.

One more thing for the night, the new spring kit didn't come with 2 sets of springs, one that goes on the strut below the wheel cylinder, and one that bends against the shoe on the other side, should I try to find away to replace these also or can they be reused?

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/cds/en_us/0900823d/80/16/46/31/0900823d80164631.jsp
here's the diagram, I'm mentioning the adjusting screw spring and the other one is probably the return lever spring

You don't have a pawl behind the adjuster? If not then the adjuster is useless as that is what drives the adjuster. Also make sure to clean the threads on the adjuster thuroughly and apply some anti sieze to it.

Jim's brake picture will be the exact same set up.

As for the spring, line it up to compare :thumbsup: i don't normally reuse springs, it's not worth it. To reisnatll the top two there is a drum brake tool that has a hook and rod. The hook is for removal, and the rod for installation, you put the rod over the anchor pin pivot with the spring attatched to it's respective shoe and snap it in place.

additionally there is another tool for installing the anchor spring.

Me, I visegrip off the springs.

This is a standard Delco/Morraine right rear drum brake assembly:

http://72.19.213.157/files/MorraineRightRear.jpg

Sorry, but the flanges aren't transparent.

Sorry, but the flanges aren't transparent.

They've gotta work on that :lol:

This is a standard Delco/Morraine right rear drum brake assembly:

http://72.19.213.157/files/MorraineRightRear.jpg

Sorry, but the flanges aren't transparent.

don't you mean left? just say driver or passenger side, I never understand if they mean from the front of the car or sitting in the car

see that spring on the left at the bottom? the spring kit doesn't come with a new one, and that right now is attached to nothing against the brake shoe

Left is always left, right is always right. Sides are determined from the perspective of being seated in the vehicle. It get's a little weird when a transverse engine is installed, but it is always labeled as if the engine were installed normally (longitudally).

That makes that a "passenger side" rear brake.

:grinno:

I'd take a picture of mine for you, but I've got so much shit apart on mine I don't want to make even MORE work for myself. If you're still messed up in a week let me know and I'll take pic's for you and post them, I should have most of my other crap done by then... I hope.
yours would be too different i think, give me a bit, i think i have a diagram somewhere on my computer

i hate drum brakes.

AHHHHHH!!!!! (Flashback of wasted Saturday changing wheel cylinders)


does anybody know an easy way to get the lock spring off the back of the wheel cylinder? cuz a couple weeks ago, it took me about an hour apiece to get em off and on again

i almost did not pass the michigan state certification test because of drum brakes....4 wheel disc all the way

disc are SO much more easy and they stop ALOT better.

Yes let's tell the world not to buy drum brakes, but the fact of the matter is a lot of cars still have them and you'll probably still work on one so it's good to know

Maniac, use two very small screw drivers to pry the retainer away from the wheel cylinder. It's easy once you've done it a few times.

UPDATE: can't work on the brakes till the weekend, too much is going wrong and I still need parts like those missing springs *sigh*

my brothers 67 camaro SS org came with a 396 and had 4 wheel drum, now thats scary....makes me shudder just thinking about it..

my brothers 67 camaro SS org came with a 396 and had 4 wheel drum, now thats scary....makes me shudder just thinking about it..

Did he convert them to rotors?

front disc, still drums in the rear

My 68 Rambler is 4 corner manual drums. Properly bled and balanced it stop just as good as as front disc set up.

Ditto for my neighbors 68 Rustang.

Guys, guys, guys... Quit your whining or put your skirts back on.

Ever notice that ABS never came out until disc brakes arrived? That's because no one really learned how to friggin drive. Riding on the car in front of you's ass, taking turns at twice as fast as you should. If you drive a car properly there's no difference between disc / power or drum / manual brakes... as long as they work. Unless... you're too much of a pussy to push the pedal, or you really don't know how to drive.

I was told that disc brakes operate slower than drum brakes (by like fractions of a second) and that disc front / drum rear was the optimal set-up for performance driving... of course that was a LONG time ago (early 80's) and there have been advances that probably counter that line of thinking.

NOW... I too need to learn how to change drum brakes... got em on the rear of my Maro and wife's van. What fun....

The the original Teves ABS system utilized rear drums.

I was watching an ABS brakes video from the early 90's in auto class this week, and they showed how police didn't know how to properly use ABS when it came out for the caprice. They would pump the pedal and crash, the video showed to hold the pedal down so the cops knew not to let up when it vibrated.

And yes disc are better now, it's called multiple piston calipers

Its the perfect time to convert to disc. j/k

Is this your first time on drums? The first time for anything takes forever but you learn alot.

Its the perfect time to convert to disc. j/k

Is this your first time on drums? The first time for anything takes forever but you learn alot.

yes, I learned that my brake lines are crushed, that I need more springs than the kit comes with, that I'm missing pieces, that I needed to buy a lot more things than for my front discs and that I should have just left well enough alone. But no regrets

The first time for anything takes forever but you learn alot.

I dunno about that one.................:lol:

Anyway, i still don't know how you are missing pieces, unless some yahoo took em out. That happened once, now, I take nothgin for granted. Example just a few weeks ago I had replace a tie rod, so go down to the store, get my "part" kid cracks the box open, holds it up in the air like lookie lookie it's still in the plastic bag. No putz, gimmie the part I want to make sure that the cotter pin is there (have a whole box of em, just can't find em when you need em). Wouldn't you know, no cotter pin and no zerk fitting, now wouldn't that be a real bitch getting through the whole process that takes but a few minutes but have to wait an hour for somebody to get a $.02 fitting so you can get grease in it?

Eh well, ended up waiting an hour anyway, forgot to check if I had grease in my gun :banghead:

I can't explain why the spring kit is missing 4 springs, but I do think someone pulled out the pawl from the brake and it's in their damn garage, rotting. But i'm like you, I want to get everything done right the first time. And because they're drum brakes, that's a lot to contend with but I'll get it. I'll see if I can get everything while I'm picking up a new brake line too lol. Dumb brakes

Eh well, ended up waiting an hour anyway, forgot to check if I had grease in my gun :banghead:

hahahahahaaaa! I thought that kinda shit only happened to me!:rofl: :iceslolan :disappoin :lol:

drum brakes are actually really easy. just gotta get use to em. I do em all the time at work. and I have 4 wheel manual drums on the maro too.

Alright well I decided to get the damn drums done this weekend so does anyone know where I can buy those springs i'm missing, pawls, and a when I get a new brake line, just going to the intersection on the driver's side, can I buy a new screw for my wheel cylinder? this one is really stripped and frozen that the broken brake line turns with it.

I need all that, no clue where to get it

Last I checked, you can't buy individual springs, it's all part of the kit. The pawl, I don't know if you can buy that either, might have to hunt down a junkyard one.

Last I checked, you can't buy individual springs, it's all part of the kit. The pawl, I don't know if you can buy that either, might have to hunt down a junkyard one.


..why me, I'm going to see If I can unhook that brake line, there should be any fluid in it yet right?

you're using flare nut wrenches right? It's a hydrolic system so there s/b fluid in it unless you drained the majority by the wheel cylinders.

Okay, I've got the brake line out, had to bend it a bit but it's off, now all I have to contend with is the retainer clip on the cylinder. I know how, it's just annoying.

dude, brake lines are nothing, you can make your own, you need a double flare kit, and make a template out of wire hanger, don't let it fret ya, drums can be a pissy assed whohaa the first time around but once you get the hang they are a piece of pie

Alright, forget about new springs and lines right now, I don't know how anything goes together, that picture is different from my car because the parking brake cable is supposed to be connected to the left shoe because it enters from the right. I'm just getting more confused the more pictures I look at. Once again, this is the passenger side rear drum brake.

(Hopefully this will answer all questions for anyone who is lost in the future)

Pictures:

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/358681drum1.jpg

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/358681drum_pieces.jpg

lol fly me out there and ill finish em for you. I cant explain how to do it over the internet.

(took out last post, irrelevant)

http://files.automotiveforums.com/gallery/watermark.php?file=/503/358681drumlast.jpg

I'm the pic whore of the day, now please help direct me what goes where from the picture. everything's there

Looks about right.

Looks about right.

the red spring goes next to and over the aduster, the arm that you see on top actually goes BEHIND the shoe and on the same shoe goes the arm on TOP, you see it to the side of the brake. The black spring holder goes on the other side over the arm. I figured it out, the picture blue bowtie showed was right, only that you can't see much from it. Now the hard part is getting everything back on, and I can't do it by myself, but I just bought a new brake line so everything's getting done regardless