For Skunktruckin - Brake Rebuild How To

[Roadracer Al]

Jack up the truck, be smart, use jack stands.

 

Take the wheels off

 

Make sure the parking brake is NOT set, chock the front wheels if necessary.

 

Remove the brake drum (like how easy I make that sound?)

If the drum brake won't come off try a couple things:

a) back the star adjusters off (turn them

[nukeday]

Awesome write up Al!

 

Couple bits to add:

 

Don't do both sets of brake shoes at the same time, i.e. if you are working on the front, pull both drums but only take the shoes on one side apart. This will let you use the other side for reference. Before you tear into either one, make sure they are the same, side to side. Sometimes previous owner's leave springs out, put them in backwards, put them in the wrong location, invert the brake shoes, etc.

 

21st century addition to drawing pictures is to take digital photos before, and as you are taking it apart. The springs are colored, write down which color goes where on your drawing, don't rely on a pic from your phone for this.

 

The scotchbrite pads work great, instead of a screwdriver I use a piece of plastic silverware or a carpenter's pencil.

[Roadracer Al]

Excellent suggestions about documenting. Heh... I guess my drum brake experience gives away my age -- the last set of drums I rebuilt was pre-digital camera!

 

Also, I haven't seen a pair of drum brake spring pliers at an auto parts store in *ages* but they're available on-line, and can special-ordered from your local auto parts store. They're cheap, and make life MUCH easier.

 

Here's a link to the first one I found:

 

http://www.sjdiscounttools.com/kti70131.html

[skunk]

this site rocks, you guys rock, thanks for taking the time to do this.