Brake rebuilding time. Lots o' questions!

[FastWoman]

Thanks, Jetaway! Yeah, I remember that spring being a bear. I did buy the special tool for it when I did the brakes on my '75 Z long ago. Even then it was a bit of a push, but I got the things on there without serious injury. I still have the tool -- know exactly where it is.

Pete: I won't paint the drums, then. Thanks!

[cygnusx1]

I spray painted my drums with silver brake caliper paint, years ago, and they still look great. I have had no issues with the paint, and they look good through the wheels.

Edited October 19, 2011 by cygnusx1

[Zed Head]

If you put the springs on with the shoes sideways (you would be looking at the face of the shoes), you can then use two hands to lift the whole assembly up (both shoes and all of the springs assembled), get the shoes aligned on the backing plate, then open them up like you would a book to put tension on the springs. After that it's a game of getting the retainers in without the "book" closing on you, the shoes falling off their pivot points and having to start over. A knee on the shoes works if you're flexible.

Just another way to look at it.

[FastWoman]

@Dave: Thanks! Well, then I think I'll give the black paint a try. I'm not an aggressive driver, so I doubt I would build up more heat than most drivers would, and the black should look nice beneath my silver panasports. I'm going to do my calipers in black too -- nice and neat.

@Zed: Thanks! That sounds like a good technique. I'm not very flexible anymore, but I do have a helper available. :-)

[FastWoman]

Phew! The right rear is done (not filled and bled, though). The nuts on the brake hose came loose quite easily, but the one on the cylinder didn't want to budge. The fancy Canuck vice grips were too large to get to the problem nut. I went and bought a 10mm flare nut wrench, not the greatest quality, and it slipped around the corners of the nut. Grrrrr... So I pulled out my smallest pair of vice grips and clamped around the flare nut wrench to keep it from spreading. That worked like a charm! (Thanks for the tip!)

Putting the new shoes on was an adventure. I finally figured out how to do it. Mount up the leading shoe first, fastening it down. Then attach the springs between that and the trailing shoe, and fold the trailing shoe around to the rear.

The anti-rattle spring wasn't so tough. I could put it in place with my bare fingers. That's definitely NOT the experience I had with my '75 Z long ago, which was why I made a special trip to the auto parts store to ask, "Help! What sort of special tool do I need to buy to get this friggin spring into place?!"

[FastWoman]

Left rear is now done. The flare nuts came apart just fine, even on the cylinder connection, but the PO had apparently twisted and mangled the hard line that runs around the backside of the drum assembly. So I had to buy some more hardline and bend a new piece, double flaring the ends. I'd never done a double flare before. Cool! I still haven't gotten my MityVac in the mail. I had bought one off of eBay for this brake job. Sure would be nice to have it now.

QUESTION: Is the ratchet on the adjusting wheel supposed to hold the adjusting wheel (catch it) when the emergency brake is relaxed, or is it just supposed to sit on the top of the wheel and catch the wheel whenever the emergency brake handle moves so far? The adjuster on one side holds, and the one on the other does not, and I don't know which is normal.

Edited October 20, 2011 by FastWoman

[robftw]

You adjust it with a screwdriver and get it so that the shoes just barely rub on the drum. Did you clean and grease these points? (its the shiny areas)

[FastWoman]

Cleaned and greased, yes. And I've retracted the adjuster, by turning the wheel, so that the brakes are retracted enough to accommodate the new linings. However, as I say, the rachet spring catches in the resting position on one side and not the other. It appears to be designed/shaped to release in the rest position, so that it grabs and turns only when the emergency brake is actuated. Maybe whether it (barely) catches in the rest position doesn't really make any difference to the operation of the auto adjust mechanism. Dunno. Any thoughts?

[madkaw]

Without reading the whole thread- you should always do one side at a time so you have an example to go by. You will find that a medium size vise grips are your friend when it comes to working on brakes-'especially them damn springs. Of course there is a special tool for drum brakes too!

Becareful attempting to flare brake lines- it is an art to itself and will leak if not done right.

[Captain Obvious]

Been a while, so I'm going from fuzzy memory: The 77-78 rear adjusters... Assuming there is enough travel as to require adjustment:

When you APPLY the parking brake, the adjuster lever hooks a tooth on the wheel and turns it.

When you RELEASE the parking brake handle, the gear wheel should not move and the lever should ratchet past the teeth on the gear. You should be able to hear the lever "click" as it snaps past the teeth on the gear.

The teeth on the adjuster wheel and the location of the lever is designed such that there should only be rotation in one direction and that direction is different for each side of the car.

So you really don't have to do much pre-adjusting on the adjuster wheel before you put the drum on. Just get the drum on, and then pull and release the parking brake handle a whole bunch of times until you stop hearing the clicks on let-off.

Goes like this:

Pull up - Hear some creaking from the cables and springs and such.

Release - Hear three (if memory serves) clicks as the adjuster lever ratchets past the teeth on the gear.

Pull up - Hear some creaking from the cables and springs and such.

Release - Hear three clicks as the adjuster lever ratchets past the teeth on the gear.

--- Repeat the above a couple of times until ---

Pull up - Hear some creaking from the cables and springs and such.

Release - Hear TWO clicks as the adjuster lever ratchets past the teeth on the gear.

--- Repeat the above a couple of times until ---

Pull up - Hear some creaking from the cables and springs and such.

Release - Hear ONE click as the adjuster lever ratchets past one tooth on the gear.

--- Repeat the above a couple of times until ---

Pull up - Hear some creaking from the cables and springs and such.

Release - Hear NO clicks.

You're done. From that point on, as the shoes wear and the travel increases, you will eventually reach the point where the parking brake lever will cause one click on release and then the next time you apply it, it will adjust one click. Does that until you replace the brakes next time or rusts solidly into place.

Since the rear of the car is already off the ground and the wheels are off, I usually pull off the drums again and just have a quick peek at the shoes and make sure they are aligned pretty much in the middle of the backing plate. Wiggle the shoes around a little bit, "unadjust" the wheel a couple of teeth, put the drum back on, and adjust them again.

If your shoes need a lot of adjustment (meaning they are pretty far from the drums) you should hear multiple clicks when you release the handle, and if you're not, there's something wrong with the adjuster system.

I apologize if I answered a whole bunch of questions that weren't asked... I was on a roll.

[FastWoman]

Thanks, Captain! That's exactly what I wanted and needed to know! It's strange that this topic isn't really discussed in any detail in the FSM. There's almost no info about the adjuster mechanism. Weird.

Steve, I can see that the flaring is an art, and it's not particularly easy. I practiced a few times on extra pieces of tubing and then did the real thing when I felt I could get the flair centered and symmetrical, which is how it did seem to come out. However, I won't know much until I get my brake bleeding tool. (drumming fingers on desk, waiting for the truck to bring it) Oh, yes, I did one side at a time. I'm glad I did, because I did have to consult the other (intact) side for reference a couple of times.

Edited October 21, 2011 by FastWoman

[Captain Obvious]

Phew... Right before I hit the post button, I realized how long that post was. I was worried that I was off track. When did I become so wordy...? :tapemouth

I've had a bunch of flaring experience also, and it's a pain. Thankfully, I've never done enough of it to warrant buying my own flaring tool set, so I borrowed a double flaring set from a buddy and found that the mandrel that came with the cheap double flaring sets is crap. It didn't fit well into the tubing and was almost impossible to get decent results. I finally gave up and turned my own mandrel that was tight fitting into the hardline tubing. Results turned out much better.

I would hope that the more expensive flaring sets have better accessories. Even so, I bet there's significant finesse that must be learned before getting good results. Make a complete single flare first? Make a partial single flare first? Make half the bubble flare and then rotate the tubing 90 degrees before finishing it? Now that you've been through it, you know the drill.