Rear Brakes

[martinb]

I've replaced the rear brake cylinders as the previous one were rusted and seized (the car has not moved for 10ish years).  However, with the new cylinders in place I can't replace the brake drum - it will no longer fit over the brake shoes.  Any suggestions what I need to do to solve this?

[Velocita Rosso]

First remove hand brake linkage attached to rear brake levers, this helps. If you have not disturbed anything other than change brake cylinder then it should just be a matter of light tapping on the shoes as you centralise the drum back onto the studs. If this does not work make sure you have backed off the brake adjuster (with the squared end) to allow shoes to then enter the drum. Its quite straight forward.  

[willcolumbine]

Yup - it's likely to be the adjusters at the bottom. They will have been adjusted to take account of the wear on the old shoes and will now be pushing the shoes out too far. You can adjust them using a 'special' brake tool or you can be a cheapskate like me and use the drive side of a 1/4 inch drive socket while you 'drive' the socket side with an allen key. It works a treat!  :)

[thealligator]

willcolumbine wrote:

Yup - it's likely to be the adjusters at the bottom !  :)

If the car been stood they may well be seized and then require some heat to free off

[junkuser]

Were the shoes replaced?
Only said cylinders.

[willcolumbine]

junkuser wrote:

Were the shoes replaced?
Only said cylinders.

Ooh! Good point. I presumed that while the drums were off they'd replaced the shoes - which is what I'd do. Surely if you just replace the cylinders, the handbrake mechanism should be just the same as it ever was?

[martinb]

Only the cylinders were replaced, not the shoes.  The adjusters fortunately are well greased and not seized, although I haven't adjusted them.  Since the adjusters and shoes haven't changed, I can only imagine the pistons in the cylinders are sticking out more than the pistons in the old cylinders.  These don't seem to want to move by normal thumb pressure, so I wasn't sure if there was a way to push the pistons further into the cylinders (if, indeed, this would be a wise thing to do).

[willcolumbine]

Ah well in that case! You might be able to use a G clamp or something to push the pistons in. Also make sure the cylinders slide on the backplates and that they're in the middle. Should be all good to go then?

[junkuser]

Can't imagine that the replacement wheel cylinders have a different resting length to the ones removed if they are the correct ones but anything is possible.
Is it just that the shoes are not centered?

[Steve Cureton]

Check the handbrake mechanism isn't seized or in need of backing off. Once you are confident everything is moving freely then there is no reason why the shoes should not fit, but you might need to centralise the shoes to allow the drum to go on. Oh, and are the return springs strong enough to do their job?