Doing the rear brakes is no easy task. It is more frustrating than anything. There are so many little parts and levers that you need to keep in place when you are also trying to put the springs back on. There were more than a few times where I walked away to take a brake so that I didn't start swinging with a hammer. This might be a job you would want your local mechanic do unless you feel daring. Anyway, there is a special tool out there that helps with the removal of the springs and I don't think that it is too expensive. I just used a screwdriver (maybe that was my problem). You can take a look at the picture below and click on it for a larger view to see some of

the parts that I mention here. There are really 5 things you need to get to do this job, a new brake drum, new brake shoes, new wheel cylinder, a spring kit, and a self-adjusting kit. Once you take the rear tire off, the brake drum should with a little help slide off of the brake assembly. If it doesn't come off, there are a few things that you can do to help it. Loosen the parking brake cable to get that out of the way. Then, you can punch out a hole in the back of the cover plate near the bottom (there is a place already designated for it back there). In there is a small lever that locks a small wheel in place. Lift that lever away from the wheel so that you can use a screwdriver to rotate the wheel and back off the brakes manually. Once you do that, then the drum should slide off. Once the drum is off you can see all of the little springs that I am talking about. Start at the top and

work your way down. Every time you remove a spring, lever, or any part, lay it out on the floor in a way so that you know where it came from and where the new part goes back. When I took a spring off, I laid it on the floor and then placed the new replacement part next to it so that I remembered what to do with it. Start removing the shoe return spring and actuating link, followed by the parking brake strut (remember where this goes and what grooves it fits into) and all adjusting springs. Once all of the springs and levers are out of the way, you can remove the hold down pins, springs and cups to remove the brake shoes. Now, the only thing that should be left is the wheel cylinder. To remove this, there are two bolts on the back of the cover plate that hold this on, as well as the brake line itself. Make sure you have some sort of a cap ready for the rear brake line when you remove it so that you can cap it off. If you don't, then the entire fluid in the rear brake system will bleed out onto the floor. Once you remove

the brake line, you can then remove the two bolts and take off the wheel cylinder. Now, you don't have to replace this, but as long as you have everything off, why not do it now for $30.00. You do want to save the wheel cylinder links to put in the new cylinder. Now that everything is stripped down, it is time to start putting everything back together. Just like every other project you do, you want to do the reverse of everything that you did to take everything thing apart. The last thing you took off is the first thing you put back on. Start with the new wheel cylinder and bolt it back into place and re-attach the rear brake line. Now comes the fun stuff. You need to get the new shoes into place and put back on the hold down pins, springs, and cups to hold the shoes in place. Put the parking brake strut back into place as well as the wheel cylinder links into the correct grooves as well. Start now from the bottom springs and work you way back up to the top of the shoes. As long as you marked where everything was when you took it off like I told you to do above, then you shouldn't have any

problem putting the new stuff back on. If you didn't mark it, then that's your problem. Take a look at the exploded view below and you will probably be able to figure out where everything goes. This is harder than it sounds here because not only do you have to make sure everything stays in place, you also have to wrestle with the stiff springs to get them back on. Trust me, it took more than a few times to get it right. Once all of the springs are back into place, then you can put the drum back on. You probably want to adjust the adjusting screw so that the drum just barely slides over the shoes. It makes it easier to fine tune the adjustment of the brakes. You have to make sure that the rear brakes are adjusted correctly to properly bleed the brakes and so that they properly function. If you don't re-adjust them, then you will have no rear brakes. Once the drum is back on and tight, go ahead and also re-adjust the parking brake cable and tighten that back up as well. This job sounds easy right?....... wrong. Take a look at the before and after shots here.