Jeffrey Fontaine

I've never had the pleasure of doing any work on rear drums before. What tools are needed to replace the wheel cylinders on our cars? How about if a complete overhaul of drums, shoes, and springs was needed? I know I need a 12mm crowsfoot for the brake line, but otherwise not sure. I see "tool kits" for sale at AZ/Sears that have tools for springs, cups, etc., do I need those? Hopefully I can get the drums off

I swapped on C5 fronts and I'm upgrading to 7/8" wheel cylinders. The rear brakes have seemed fine but not sure if I'll get a surprise when I open them up... I'm hoping they will be ok for a while until I find a new rear w/ better gears and PBR's.

Thanks,
Jeff

l_dis_travlr

For drum brakes, the offset tool used for removing/applying the main
springs is relatively inexpensive, but comparably invaluable. A good
set of large pliers will work for removing the small springs that hold
the shoes onto the backing plate. If you need to service the brake
cyl's, there are special tools for the lines. Basically, its a 6-point
box end with only one side removed, so you can get it over the line,
and have 5 gripping sides, as opposed to 2 for std. combo wrenches.
Be careful of metric/english size for your brakes. Usually, the cyl's can
be removed with the appropriate socket. Again, 6 pt's are preferable
to 12 pt's for rusted-hard-to-remove. The cyl's are serviced by either
a) replacing w/ rebuilt, or b) honing the cyl and replacing the internal
plungers. Unless you plan to do a lot of this, rebuilt cyl's are to cheap
to justify the hone & learning curve of use.

Don't forget that when you open the lines, gravity will drain fluid, so
collector pans will minimize clean-up effort. When re-assembling,
you need to avoid contaminating the pads (grease, cleaner, br-fluid,
etc.), so cleaning of component is highly advisable. There's some
good spray cleaners specifically for brakes. Beyond that, its just
jump off & do it. The first time will probably take twice as much
time as you originally estimate.

Good luck,
kk

PS
Getting the drums off can be a nightmare for experienced mechanics.
Usually crow-bars, hammers (NOT on the lug-bolts), profanity, & copious
quantitities of beer are involved.

Berlinetta00

Another useful tool might be a vacuum pump if you dont have a friend handy. The line wrenches (the wrench with 5 mating faces) are invaluable for most automotive work, you might want a whole set. They might just save you having to replace a brake line or two. Don't forget the brake cleaner either, you will want to throughly clean all the brake components prior to reassembly.

Jeffrey Fontaine

Got plenty of brake-clean, and have at least one flare wrench from the injector swap, but I'm sure it is the wrong size. I do have a vacuum pump. Guess I'll need the offset tool...

Just did the copious amounts of cussing last night when I saw that my front brake line had dropped from where I propped it and drained all fluid from the MC !

stealtht/a

iTrader: (1)

all good advice so far, also get the drum brake spring tools, ones a lever for turning the adjusters through the backing plate, one is a screwdriver-like thing w/ a round end for the hold down springs, third is a lever w/ a cupped end to pop the return springs over the pivot post. My 86 has odd bleeder screw housings i havent seen on other cars. it makes it so i cant get a wrench on the bleeder screw at the same time as the vaccum hose. GM manual says there is a special tool that fits there, but I havent found it. "Speed bleeder" bleeder screws make the problem go away, they have a built in check valve so you dont need the vaccum hose.