For the first time ever, i tried to change the rear brake shoes. it seemed sort of difficult till i finally got the stuff in place. Here is what happen to me. I got in the car to see if all was good and steped on the the brake pedal and the wheel cylinder piston poped out. i went to the book to see what to do and i went to buy a kit from the store. after reading the book it said that if one wheel line was disconected then that wheel may only need to be bled. so as im going to work on the the wheel cilynder, i noticed that i did not even need the kit. i just simply replaced the piston back in and it was fine. the problem is that i disconected the line at the rear diver side and the fluid leaked out. the resivior is low on one side now. my question is now do i have to bleed the entire system and how long does it take? and how much if i did have a shop do this will they charge? is this easy for a first timer?

 

just bleed the rear. probally only the one side you opened the bleeder on. no need to touch the fronts it is a seperate system. make sure ou keep the res full when you bleed or you will be doing the entire system.


now the bigger question do you know how to bleed them?

 

No ive never bled the system before. It seems easy but im not sure exactly what to do to make sure its bled correctly.

 

Alright I did this last weekend so I'll try to help. It can be frustrating but you can do it yourself.

First thing first, as Jeffw said, make sure you don't let your master cylinder run out of brake fluid or else you will get air in your lines and have to bleed the bore of the master cylinder and the front and back brakes. I had to do this and it really sucks!!! I used my Haynes Manual for my break job and it really helped, they are only $15 and they are life savers.

Your going to want to bleed your back right wheel first and then your back left. *You will need an assistant*.
1. Obviously you will need to take the back wheel off.
2. Then have your assistant pump the brake a few times and then hold it, at this time you loosen the bleeder valve at the right brake and you will probably hear air release. Then retighten the line and have your assistant slowly release the brake. (Make sure your assistant knows not to let off the brake until after you have the bleeder valve resecured, otherwise you will pull air back into the line and have to start all over.)
3. Repeat step 3, atleast 3 or 4 times, or more if you continue to hear air release. Don't forget to check the brake fluid level a couple times through the process.
4. Repeat steps 3 and 4 on the rear left brake.
5. Mount the wheels and test it (emergency brake will still work)

After doing this myself I would never pay someone to do it for me. If you haven't worked on cars much this is a great place to start. If you don't get it right the first time don't get frustrated, it took me doing this entire process about 3 times before I got it right. (I also am a novice).

Good Luck! let us know if you have troubles.

 

thanks man, i will never pay.

 

no problem, glad it worked

 

woa woa major error on that one

#1 why would you take off the drum to bleed the brakes? you need everything complete and together to prevent blowing apart the brake cyl.

so follow those direcions except the removal of the drum leave it on and your good to go. don;t forget to adjust the drum brakes after also that is what gives you the pedal height in the car. turn the adjuster while spinning the wheel til it starts ti get tigt just don;t over do it or they will smoke and drpag and that is not so good.

 

good lookin out

 

Hey USA_Rally!! make sure you edit that the next time you give that to someone. j/k giving ya hard time. Good eye Jeff.

 

I don't know why I said to take the drum off, I know better than that. I just did mine and I didn't take the drum off to bleed them, so who knows where that came from.. lol.. I edited it.