Rear Brakes Locked Up

[the_tool_man]

3 hours ago, SteveJ said:

If you have a flat floor, these work well to move the car around: https://www.harborfreight.com/1300-lb-capacity-self-loading-positioning-wheel-dolly-64601.html

Those are nice!  I hope I don't use dollies often enough to justify $600 for a set though.  We just had Charles' cheap wheel dollies and my cheaper ones.  Mine were nearly useless, as they were taller and had no side guards.  They would squirt out from under the wheel if they ran over a hairline crack in the pavement.  Thankfully, even when one got trapped between the body and tire, no apparent damage occurred.  Charles' were better, remaining steadfastly in position.  Honestly, I don't think any dollies would have been without issue, as we had to move the car over a 1/2" step from driveway to garage floor.  It took an abundance of ingenuity (mostly from Charles) to get it in there.

Mine were these: https://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece-1500-lb-capacity-vehicle-dollies-67338.html

Don't buy them.  They're awful.  Like I said, I'm lucky it didn't dent the fender when it squirted out.

Edited January 24, 2023 by the_tool_man

[the_tool_man]

19 minutes ago, Yarb said:

$600 on sale when you buy 4 and get the storage rack also. Dream garage candy.

I think the rack is $50 extra: https://www.harborfreight.com/wheel-dolly-storage-rack-64496.html

[SteveJ]

22 minutes ago, the_tool_man said:

Those are nice!  I hope I don't use dollies often enough to justify $600 for a set though.  We just had Charles' cheap wheel dollies and my cheaper ones.  Mine were nearly useless, as they were taller and had no side guards.  They would squirt out from under the wheel if they ran over a hairline crack in the pavement.  Thankfully, even when one got trapped between the body and tire, no apparent damage occurred.  Charles' were better, remaining steadfastly in position.  Honestly, I don't think any dollies would have been without issue, as we had to move the car over a 1/2" step from driveway to garage floor.  It took an abundance of ingenuity (mostly from Charles) to get it in there.

Mine were these: https://www.harborfreight.com/2-piece-1500-lb-capacity-vehicle-dollies-67338.html

Don't buy them.  They're awful.  Like I said, I'm lucky it didn't dent the fender when it squirted out.

You may be able to get away with 2 of them as long as two wheels will turn. I have too much stuff in my garage for them to be useful, and the contraction lines on my driveway are too big even for the wheels on those dollies.

[Patcon]

So to tie this off, we got the drums off.  We got the car started on an alternate fuel source. The car is on jack stands with the rear wheels off.  And using the drive train, we got one of the wheels to turn. Then I used a flat bar to hold the freed up wheel's parking brake mechanism to force the other wheel to turn. The added bonus was with the wheels off the drums started to work their way off on their own. I had brought a large three leg puller with me and we forced them the rest of the way off with that. I think he's going to find that the parking brake levers are seized in the backing plate holding the shoes out...

[Yarb]

I’ve got a full set from my 280 when I did the disc conversion. Send me a pm if you need something.

[Patcon]

Thanks! We'll see what he finds

[the_tool_man]

I started redoing the brakes yesterday. To begin with, everything inside was pretty rusty. To make matters worse, whoever worked on them last used white lithium grease behind the shoes and on the adjuster mechanism. It had turned into chalk over the years.

I got everything apart and cleaned everything up with solvent and wire brushes.

the good news is the cylinder shows no signs of leaking. I sprayed the backing plate with black paint just to make myself feel better, and moved on to the adjusters. They were completely frozen.

With some penetrating oil and effort, i got it cleaned up and working smoothly. I used a dry film lubricant on the pivot and proper brake pin lube on the threads, so hopefully they'll not lock up again.

The boot tore, so i have a pair on the way from Z Car Depot.

I let the painted plate dry overnight and started reassembly today. That's when I discovered the anti-rattle spring hats in my hardware kit are wrong. They are deeper than what was on the car, and don't tension the springs.

I decided to just clean up and reuse the old ones. Getting the brakes back together was frustrating. It had been a minute since I'd done drums. I struggled for over an hour getting the return springs installed. Then I came here, found this thread, and used what I now call the "book method".

That worked like a charm. Driver side all done...

...except that when we used the puller on the passenger side, one of the anti-rattle spring hats broke. I need to source a replacement if anyone has one.

Edited October 1, 2023 by the_tool_man
Fixed typos

[Patcon]

I will provide the new spring hat...