Grabbing Rear Drum Brake

[bstark]

The driver's side rear drum (Ital axle) on my 7 seems to be grabbing after about 15 minutes driving. Gentle-medium braking pulls the car to the right, but as you increase the pressure it straightens up again and the steering wheel stops tugging. After a few brakes this is accompanied by a quiet squeaking from said brake, that stops as you hit the pedal.

 

Before I pull it apart, does anyone have any advice on the most likely cause and the best fix? Could it just need a clean, or am I looking at the cylinder? I can replace bolt-on bits OK, but please assume a low level of technical competence!

 

Bob Stark

Supersprint first-timer

[Robster]

I would take the shoes off, back the adjuster off, clean the backing plate, put some copperslip on the adjuster and put it all back together. You don't need special tools to do this. Take the pin out of the handbrake rod, remove the rod. There are two spring retainers holding the shoes to the backing plate, you need to push the spring in to remove the pin (it will make sense when you look at them) using some pliers. Make a note of where the springs hold the shoes so that you can replace them in the same holes that they came out of. Whilst you have the drum apart, clean the handbrake lever. To replace the shoes, attach the spring to the shoes when the shoes are not in the adjuster/cylinder, then pull the shoes apart and they will go into the slots. When you lube the adjuster, be careful not to get grease on the shoes/drum.

 

Tighten the adjuster till the shoes bite the drum, then back off one flat.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Robster

[Fred]

bob if you are not mechanicaly minded you dont want to go there you may do more damage than good it will take a mecanic two min to tell you whats wrong question.gif

 

 

fredid=blue> smile.gif

[Fred]

one of the biggest mistakes mecanics make is not to slacken of the hand brake cable first then fit shoes and adjust at the drum. only at the end of the job you find your cable is seized or the cable is adjusted to tight and not alowing enough movement to keep the levers in the drum free you may also have a sticky cylinder you dont want to go there if you dont know what you are going to do

 

fredid=blue> smile.gif

[bstark]

Thanks for that Robster - I'll pull it apart and have a look (the detailed description you gave is great, by the way).

 

Fred - I take your point about the mechanic, but the car had an expensive service a couple of hundred miles ago at which time the brake problem was suposed to have been sorted (+ bill for 'Brake Cleaner' on the invoice!). I want to have a look myself and if I can't resolve it then fair enough, I'll splash out on another trip to the garage. I should point out that I have replaced pads, shoes, cylinders etc. in the past, but that was a long time ago when I was a student and I simply don't have any manuals any more. The low technical competence is a relative term as there seem to be many bona fide technical gurus on this site (thank God!) and I needed a more complete answer than simply "check the adjuster is set correctly" or whatever. Good tip about the handbrake, by the way.

 

Bob Stark

Supersprint first-timer