In the youtube videos they use wirecutters (diagonal pliers) to grab the springs and pull them sideways into their slots. I guess then sharp edge makes a good grip on the spring, whereas a regular pliers would slip. What is the reasoning? I'd be afraid I'd cut the darn spring right in half. Thinking of doing my rear drum brakes in my daily driver Nissan. Thanks for any insights!

 

I use needle nose vise grips, but those springs are made from hard enough steel that you are not going to cut through them with wire cutters.

 

A purist would tell you that using wire cutters will put a nick on the spring where you grab it , causing premature failure by means of corrosion . This is the reason why the FAA made us not allowed to use "safety wire pliers" on aircraft , the pliers would put a nick on the safety wire leading to the above mentioned failure . So , at 6 to 8 turns per inch , we had to do all of our safety wiring by hand .

Now , in the real world , I've used everything from the "proper" brakespring installation tool to visegrips and yes even sidecutters ("dikes") to install the springs and in over 50 years of working on car brakes not once has a brakespring failed because of what tool was used to install it .

The biggest danger being , of course , when the spring slips through the improvised tool , and ends up firmly planted in a finger somewhere , kinda like how fishing hooks are known to have a particular affinity for fingers ....

 

Whatever happened to plain old brake spring pliers/tools? Mine still work just fine, thiry years later.

 

Yep , we all know the best way is , of course , by using the proper tool , but I took the question from the OP as one of he don't have the right tool and wanted to know the possible pitfalls of using an improvised method lacking said "proper tool" .

And to repeat what I said earlier , I've seen brakesprings installed by just about every method possible , and in over 50 years of working on cars the only brakespring failures I've ever seen were on cars where the brakes hadn't seen any maintenance since the car was new , and the springs were literally rotted to the point of crumbling .

But , of course , I have seen several instances (thankfully never my own) of fellow mechanics being hurt by trying to install the springs without the proper tool , and it's for the personal safety aspect , rather than the spring's safety of not being cut (as the OP asked) , that I strongly encourage the use of the proper tool .

Can I , myself , install brakesprings using only MSgt Luttrell's visegrips without hurting either myself or the spring ? Of course I can and have done so plenty of times over the years when the brake job and the brake tool happened to be in two different locations . But would I encourage anyone else to do so ? Not in a million years , since I know nothing about either the mechanical ability nor the pain tolerance of the asker ......

 

Thanks for the replies!

Actually I do have the long handled silver brake pliers tool with the special tip and handle end on it, for specific brake tasks. I tried using it before on a larger drum brake (Caprice) but it didn't help. Maybe it takes some practice.

One of the Youtube videos shows a guy trying to use the same tool for about 10 seconds, but he gave up since the spring kept slipping off, and went back to the wirecutters or the needle nose pliers.

Since the brakes I am doing now (Nissan) are smaller than the Caprice maybe the tool will be easier to use. Maybe the springs won't be as strong.

Does anyone find using that big brake pliers tool makes doing the job any easier ??? Is there some trick to it?

 

There are several tricks to it. Remember it's three (maybe more?) Tools in one.

GD

 

As I recall, part of (most?) of the difficulty is that the springs are so darn stiff you really have to be Charles Atlas to make them budge.

 

I have never used that tool as "pliers". I use the cupped end to remove the spring from the post, and the straight side with the "hook" machined in it to lever the spring back over the post. Have never used any tool to pull the spring to a "slot".

Of course, I'm talking Chevy/GM drum brakes. After all, this forum is dedicated to the 3rd gen GM f-body platform...

 

I have used the same brake pliers as shown above on my 3/4 ton pickup and never had an issue, and the drums on that beast were way bigger than whats on a Caprice. The trick is to use the ends of the tool. One side you twist to pop the spring off, and the other there is a hook that you slide the spring down to attach it.