04 taurus rear drum problem

[smothers33]

Today I was replacing shoes, springs and drums on both rear sides of my 04 taurus. I couldnt loosen the self adjustment on either side so I ended up prying off drums since i was replacing everything anyways. 1st side came off fairly easy. Second side not so much. It was pretty tight to begin with but after a while i ended up getting it off. Replaced everything then when I went to put on drum I couldnt fit it over the new shoes. I turned the self adjuster all the way in and even bled cylinder of fluiid. Still couldnt put it on. ended up just beatin it on with a hammer since I was at the shop and had to get home. It was tight even to where I had to put a little muscle to get the wheel to spin even while it was in the air. but not tight even to where it had any noticable effect while driving. But when I got home the drum was hot as s**t. I know this side will wear prematurely but will it just wear the until it is normal looseness or will it stay tight like this until it gets fixed. I wont be able to get it into a shop for a couple days. Is it ok to drive once or twice untill then? any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for help in advance

[shorod]

Welcome to the forum!

Did you make sure the parking brake cable is working freely and the parking brake lever in the drum is fully released? Did you notice when you took the original shoes off if the leading pad is shorter than the trailing pad? And if so, did you make sure you didn't put both short shoes on one side and both long shoes on the other (tight) side? The metal part of the shoes will be the same, the difference is in the amount of friction material on the shoes.

-Rod

[smothers33]

Originally Posted by shorod

Welcome to the forum!

Did you make sure the parking brake cable is working freely and the parking brake lever in the drum is fully released? Did you notice when you took the original shoes off if the leading pad is shorter than the trailing pad? And if so, did you make sure you didn't put both short shoes on one side and both long shoes on the other (tight) side? The metal part of the shoes will be the same, the difference is in the amount of friction material on the shoes.

-Rod

Thanks for the welcome. I am almost 100% they're on right. 2 shoes had a little bar(dunno what to call it) sticking out where a mount for the return spring snapped on to and other 2 shoes only had a slot where the return sping went into IF that makes sense

[smothers33]

update on situation. I got home today and jacked up the side I was having problems with to see if driving it helped at all. And to my suprise it wasnt nearly as bad as when I first got t put together. It still isnt completely free but the wheel does spin with only little effort needed to get it going. I can still feel friction and it does squeel a fair amount while driving. What do you guys think. Should I look more into this. getting the drum off is going to be a pain in the ass. I could barely turn the adjustment when I had the drum off and tried turning it to from the front. And i really dont wanna pry it off again and risk damaging it any more than it already is. What should I do

[shorod]

My thought is that something isn't right, and if I know something isn't right on my car, I want to figure out how to make it right and fix it. I understand though that many people will opt for the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" route which is acceptable too, it just likely will lead to a higher cost at a later date. If nothing else, if you get it apart and carefully inspect it with the idea that something isn't right, but you find there really is nothing wrong, then you can stop thinking about it as an issue too.

-Rod

[65comet]

I know you said you had a heck of a time getting it off and on, but I would take the drum back off. If the shoes look ok, and the drum doesn't show signs that the metal on the shoes were rubbing it, then turn the drum inside out and bolt it to the axle. Try spinning it this way. Maybe the problem is the axle bearings and not the drum. Grab the drum, moving it up and down, side to side to check for any play if it spins freely. If it spins freely and no play, then look and the back plate to see if the drum was rubbing against it. The axle may be bent causing the drum to rub against it, or the plate may be bent causing the same result. After that, try double checking the old shoes against the new. They might have put the wrong one(s) in the box and it just won't work. That is all the options I have from my experiences. Had them all.

[smothers33]

Alright so I finally got it fixed. Shorod thats exactly how I am. I could not stop thinking about why this was not working so even though It wasnt rubbing that bad I took the drum back off again today(still had to pry it off) but after inspecting the whole setup I figured out that is was just a loose spring. Funny thing is I replaced all the springs when I replaced the drums and shoes. I dont know if they put the wrong spring in the kit or it was a defect but I bought another spring kit and that worked perfect. Also bought a brake tool kit and was amazed how well the brake spoon worked compared to the screwdriver method. I guess the right tool for the job isnt just a saying. Its the TRUTH. Anyways thanks for your help guys I really do appreciate it.

[shorod]

Great, I'm glad to hear you got it fixed. Thanks for reporting back with what you found, that's another "seen it before" to add to 65comet's list.

-Rod