02silverpathy Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 Hey all, I am trying to service my drum brakes before I leave for vacation (Saturday). The shoes are staying inside the drum area, they will not free themselves from the races of the drum--and I do not have the parking brake on. I even tried spraying PB Blaster on the shoes to get them to release...no good. I have beat the drum from all angles, they just won't pop loose of the drum itself. Any suggestions out there? I got one side off but had springs going everywhere dur to shear force of the shoes being ripped away from the backing plate. This was not meant to be a destructive service! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 Try backing off the adjusting wheel. There is a little rubber cover on the back of the drum you remove to access it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02silverpathy Posted September 24, 2009 Author Share Posted September 24, 2009 Sweet! That seems easy enough...in fact maybe I shouldn't have gotten so angry and thought about it! Lol, any other ideas? I had these things off about 10 months ago when SammyB and I swapped my gears too, they were no problem then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 To be honest I just "wiggled" mine off slowly. That was only the one side though. The other slid right off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverPath Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 The drums on my '99 had two bolt holes on the front. I just screwed two bolts in and it popped it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rydsno Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 There's something in the repair manual about screwing in bolts to the holes on the outside of the drum and I think you can use a puller. I'll try to find it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unccpathfinder Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 (edited) The drums on my '99 had two bolt holes on the front. I just screwed two bolts in and it popped it off. drivers side i always have to use screws to "press off"...passenger side usually comes off PB, oil, grease are bad things to spray on brake parts unless you want to clean for a long time... Edited September 24, 2009 by unccpathfinder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02silverpathy Posted September 24, 2009 Author Share Posted September 24, 2009 Using bolts to help extract the drum is fine, but the entire assembly is stuck inside the drum...they will need to be grade 8's so that the can continue to go into the drum and pull all but the wheel cylinder off, then you risk distorting the drum. I figured the PB would cause me an issue, but I already had one and shoes are terribly expensive, lol I just wanted that crap off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 If they won't free up by backing off the adjuster, then just yank it off and let the springs fly. Spring kits are cheap, I always buy a new spring kit when I replace the shoes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 Odds are that the drums are worn (not flat any more) and you have to back off the pad adjustemt like Adam said to remove them. Yes, the bolt holes (m6 I believe) are for removing the drum, but no puller is needed... You can try ringing the drum (striking with a metalic object/hammer) also, but this is usually for vehicles that have sat for a long time with the brake on. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02silverpathy Posted September 25, 2009 Author Share Posted September 25, 2009 Thanks all for the help! The drums were indeed carved into a bit. I cleaned the drums, scuffed them up thoroughly and re-installed....oh and adjusted them back into a good working position! They have at least another 30-40K left in them, seems like they always last 100K huh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrimGreg Posted September 25, 2009 Share Posted September 25, 2009 Yeah, 75% of the braking is done with the front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02silverpathy Posted October 5, 2009 Author Share Posted October 5, 2009 After driving 1200-1300 miles the rear brakes performed OK. I only wish now that there wasn't so much nose dive in the truck, it is a little ridiculous. I have a hard time blaming springs too as they are only 3yrs old and have not been off road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laxman0324 Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Chris, weren't you asking how to get the shoes out when everyone was telling you how to get the drum off? If that is so, the shoes can be a pain to get off, but are an even bigger pain to get back on. With the drum off, take a picture of the assembly so you know how all the springs go. You will need to remove all springs attaches to the shoes, and in the middle of the shoe bracket there is a spring with a round hat that you press in and twist to release. If you want help we can replace your shoes and my PCV valve over a 12 pack during a weekend sometime soon. Just PM me if your game. Just an afterthought, didn't you have to remove the shoes when pulling out the axle shafts to pull the gears out? Dan and I took apart the shoes, but I don't remember if that was necessary to pull the axle or not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
02silverpathy Posted October 5, 2009 Author Share Posted October 5, 2009 B was right, the drums are scored prety good so the shoes were stuck in the drum where they had been riding. It was the adjuster that needed to be released to get them out of the drums so I could remove the drums, lol...what a mess it really was. I never had that much trouble with drums before. I have a recycler near me with a low mileage 03 and I am thinking of checking out the drums on it, mine are pretty dug into. Sam and I didn't remove the shoes, in fact we left the brake lines on...'cause I'm lazy. We simply removed the necessary nuts/bolts and slid the ends out! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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