No Rear Brakes

[sandifer01]

Alright, I have a 95 ECSB. So a few days ago I had to set my parking brake in order to let my shifter down to 1st gear to get the dash piece off. Anyway after releasing my parking brake and driving the truck later that day, my back brakes do not work whatsoever. Ive set the brake plenty of times and its always worked fine. but this time when i released it it made a loud pop noise and now my brakes are shot. Its gotten so bad that just driving to school my front discs are glowing red when i get there. Help please?

 

[rcman989]

pull the drums off and look to see what you find. for parking brakes there should be a spreader bar to hold the brake pads apart when using the parking brake. this might have popped out and messed up something in your rear brakes. Honestly the best thing you can do is take the drum off and look

 

[sandifer01]

thanks. Ill take a look today and post what I find.

 

[Fobroader]

Ahhhh drum brakes....what a craptastic technology. Before you take anything apart, I HIGHLY reccomend taking pictures and only doing one side at a time so you have the other side as reference. Just my $0.02, I hate the springs and **** in a drum brake.

 

[sandifer01]

alright i took the passenger drum off so far. Ive looked all throughout and everything seems to be connected correctly. atleast to the best of my knowledge. The whole assembly is covered in brake dust. And i mean ALOT of it. Ive never rebuilt drums before so idk what kinda $ Im looking at. Any idea?

Also i have been taking pics. plenty of them. What should i do now? I honestly have no clue. gotta learn somehow right? lol Thanks in advance

 

[Fobroader]

Cherck out the brake shoes, just like brake pads, any meat left on them?? Check your wheel cylinders for leaks, little piston looking things at the top of your backing plate. Id honestly get new shoes and an overhaul kit, includes new springs, tension bars and adjusters. For the $70-80 its cheap piece of mind. Also check your e-brake cables to see if they are not broken or have become unatched from their mounts. Most overhaul kits come with a diagram which will help you, also a Haynes manual is pretty good.

 

[sandifer01]

good news guys! I was messing with them and i got mad haha short temper. Anyway i came inside for a minute. After calming down and looking around here to brush up my knowledge of drums... I went back out and took a second look. Its then that i realized all kinds of crap was in the wrong place. So since the funds arent great right now im going to tear them down clean them and put them back together. The shoes look great. Its easy to see now why they didnt work. The e-brake was indeed the culprit of the malfunction. Thanks for the help guys


Another ? I know its stupid lol but ive never dont it. How do i go about getting the drums off the truck so i can clean/rebuild them?

 

[Fobroader]

Make sure the e-brake is off and then using a hammer smack the face and sides of the drum. If all goes well it should pop right off. I usually spray some penetrant fluid around the studs to help the situation. Dont start swinging the hammer like Ug Ug the caveman either, dont want to damage the drum. If youve never worked on drum brakes, just wait till you get them off to see the rats nest and general clusterfuckery that are drum brakes..... Happy Wrenching...bring beer and smokes!!!


*EDIT* Wait.....didnt you say you allready had the drums off the truck?? Do you mean the actual shoe, spring and gizmos assembly???

 

[sandifer01]

haha yes. Sorry i wasnt sure exactly what to call it. I do have the drum part off. Its just i dont know how to get the back part off that has all the goodies in it.

 

[Fobroader]

Theres a couple of springs you have to remove, then there are these keys, that are spring loaded, **** them in, twist and the whole assembly will come out. Why do you want to take it of, spray everything with brake cleaner and its good to go. Unless youre replacing the shoes, dont bother, clean it up, re-adjust the pads and away you go.