Hey everybody, I was wondering if any of you have experience in changing out the rear wheel cylinder yourselves. The place I got the quote from said it'd be 120 installed (driver's side), but I can find the part for 60. Is it worth the 60 bucks to get someone else to do it? It's a 1974 260.

If you are mechanically inclined it is very straight forward. It helps to have a brake shoe spring retainer tool and 10 mm flare nut wrench though.

But drum brakes are a major pain to deal with. If you don't do a lot of your own car repairs, that may not be the first repair that you want to try by yourself.

Just my opinion.

If you do the repair, remember to leave the other side intact, even if you are going to change the shoes, until AFTER you get the first side reassembled. All the little linkages and springs are difficult to get in the right place unless you have a guide. Which is what you use the other side for, as a model of the way it SHOULD be assembled.

Josh,

if you are a relative rookie with cars and wrenching, i would have this done by a pro.

brakes are probably the worst thing to guess at on a car since they are the most important safety system.

that said, if you have moderate experience, go for it. it's a pretty straight forward job.

remember to bleed the system after you replace the cylinders.

If you should decide to do it yourself it would be a good idea to take pictures of the shoes/linkages.(Have digital camera??) Sometimes the drum can be difficult to remove due to a lip created by wear. Look in your Haynes manual etc for pictures describing how to turn the "star wheel" with a screwdriver. This will create slack needed to get the drum off. Sometimes it takes a lot of cussing and turning of that little wheel.

The Z wasn't my first car but it still taught me a lot about working on cars. If you're up for the fun of working on it I'd say go for it.

The area you'll probably have trouble with is getting the old brake line off. Even the best flare wrenches can round off a brake fitting. One member of the group made an excellent suggestion which I've yet to try. He suggested using a vise grip OVER the flare wrench to keep it in good contact and to keep it from spreading. I've always resorted to vise grips w/o a flare wrench but prefer his method now that I have new brake lines.

Be very careful when loosening the bleed screws initially as getting them to "break" can easily make them break. I like to use a socket to avoid rounding them off. The socket also decreases side loads when two handing the ratchet.. Having a bleeder break off is not fun.

2c

Jim

snip.... One member of the group made an excellent suggestion which I've yet to try. He suggested using a vise grip OVER the flare wrench to keep it in good contact and to keep it from spreading. I've always resorted to vise grips w/o a flare wrench but prefer his method now that I have new brake lines.

snip...

2c

Jim

Vise-Grip also makes versions that are specifically made for hex nuts http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/4NV43 . That is the best solution if your flare nut wrench doesn't work.