question about rear brakes

[97GSTspyder]

My girlfriend has a 95 auto Cavalier. Since i own a 97 eclipse spyder and a 97 eclipse hardtop, i don't have to deal with drums (so i'm not the smartest when it comes to drum brakes). I replaced her front brakes a while ago and about a month ago she noticed every time when she applies the brakes, they're REAL touchy and from inside the car it feels like your body moves forward and backward (kind of like if you drove with someone that doesn't know how to drive stick). On top of that, the brakes make noise. I pulled off the front wheels, inspected the brakes, they're all fine, even the rotors. Went to the rear brakes. We got new shoes and drums. Now my question is...I got all the springs off except for 2 with the shoe wrench (or whatever the hell that tool is called lol). 1 is on each shoe near the center of the shoe. A pin runs through the damn thing. I can't figure out for the life of me on how to get those out! Anyone have any info on how to get these off? After i get these replaced i'm going to bleed the whole system and hopefully her problem goes away.

Thanks for any help,

Steve

[Cavalier2000]

push and turn

[97GSTspyder]

that was actually the first thing i tried doing...the pin and sping both turn which defeated the purpose...unless they're just rusted together. i'll try it again though.

thanks

[Cavalier2000]

push the back of the pin with your finger sorry i forgot about that. it all else fails get some WD40 or buy a hardware kit for $10 and just replace them

[cdru]

You should always get the hardware kit anyways. Why go through all the hassle or replacing the shoes and drums and taking off all those springs just to put the possibly weak springs back on?

[97GSTspyder]

thanks for all the advice...i got the new shoes and drums on...after doing the first one, the second one was easier and i did it in half the time lol. i've pulled a handfull of motors, worked on a variety of cars, troubleshooted, etc, and now i finally know how to do drum brakes the proper way lol. i didn't think it'd be rocket science, but it was more complex than i'd thought.

[RahX]

ive noticed on a lot of cavaliers if the brakes have dust and arent adjusted right they grab like that. a lot of the time, especially if the brakes are in good condition, they will do this after 6-7K+ from the last time you adjusted them. i know you replaced them but if the problem comes back get a can of brake cleaner and give em a good wash and adjust em up like theyre supposed to be.

[cousincletus]

A sticky wheel cylinder can cause them to grab too. Now that you did the rear shoes are they still grabbing?

[zzzingrol]

GM did not know what they were doing when they designed the brakes for this car. They actually have two versions for my 2002 cavalier. A smaller size and a larger drum brake system. The problem occures when the adjuster that regulates the spacing of the pads on the bottom is out of adjustment. With it out of adjustment the pad "grabs" the drum suddenly. This results in the ABS system kicking on the keep the rear wheels from locking in snow and rain.


You can adjust this by putting the e-brake on while in reverse. You should be able to hear the ratchet click while you do this, if you have a good ear. You will also notice on a worn set of pads the front pad wears more than the back. This is once again a result of there bad design. I figure the larger size brakes system a change to help eliminate this sudden grab of the brakes.

The Delpi ABS system on my 2002 does not use a proportion valve to bias the brake pressure to the front brakes so the car noise dives allowing maximum weight shift to the front for best braking. This car is designed to lock the rear wheels up first and than use "Brake Pressure Modulation" to control the lock up shifting the weight to the front. For those that drive there cars hard know that this system sucks.