My handbrake haven't been grabbing ever since I got the car, it bearly hold on even the slightest of hills. So when I was doing recon for a rear wheel bearing job, I decided to replace it. The job is relatively straight forward once you remove the rear caliper and rotors, but putting back the retaining spring proved more difficult than I had bargained for. Since I did not see a handbrake DIY, I decided to make one.
First all the tools you need for the rear brake shoes.
If you haven't done a brake job before, follow prep work steps 1 through 5, you should arrive at the picture below:
1. Loosen rear wheel lug bolts, chock front wheels, jack up rear of car, place on jack stands, remove rear wheels.
2. Use 16mm ratching wrench to remove pair of brake bracket bolts, remove brake bracket with caliper attached, hang with zip ties.
3. 6mm hex key, remove 2 rotor retaining screws per side, if you strip it, grab a 3/16" carbide drill bit and hit it, regular drill bit does not cut it, then use screw extractor.
4. Make sure parking brake is down, remove rear brake rotors, if rotor is seized, hit with a sledge hammer, do same on other side.
5. Release some tension on parking brake cable, open up boot behind brake lever, loosen two sets of screws, 9mm and 12mm deep sockets.
Now you're ready to remove the old shoes, I tried various ways and destroyed an old spring in the process, in hind sight, do this.
6. Use a flat screw driver or any strong picking device to pull the top retaining spring hook and pry it out of the slot.
7. Fit 5mm hex key into side springs, push inward and turn 90 degree left or right to unlock, will pop out automatically.
8. Spread brake shoe outwards, it will fall off the hub, unhook bottom spring and remove adjuster screw.
9. Thoroughly clean mating surfaces with brake cleaners, and all reusable parts, here a shot of new vs. old (rusted, pitted) hardware.
10. Hook up a dremel or other rotating device and a grinding disc, cut and clean the rust inside the brake drum.
11. Apply a thin coat of anti-seize to area on backing plate where shoes slide when they expand.
12. When putting back the new shoes, after much trial and error, I found the following sequence to be most effective.
a) Position adjuster screw between bottom notches of new shoes, screw facing rear of car.
b) Hook on bottom spring, collapse shoes toward each other to facilitate this, then spread outward.
c) Spread shoes around hub from bottom and raise to position, align top notches around brake line expander.
d) Insert fixing screw on each side into middle hole on each brake shoe, pass through backing plate, turn 90 degrees to lock.
d) Here comes the tricky part, hook one end of top spring to one shoe, leaving about 10mm between other hook and its slot.
e) Use hooking end of drum brake tool, pull the spring hook towards the slot, it required quite a lot of force, I was losing grip with my shoes on the ground and I weigh close to 180lbs. As you set the tip of the hook into the slot, carefully rotate spring hook tool to release while maintaining pressure on spring hook with tool in other hand so it doesn't back out. DO NOT use fingers for this, as if and when the spring snaps out, it'll guarantee you a cut and bruise.:crying: I stumbled onto this method after 30 min of agony on one side, and 5 min of breeze on the other.
13. Adjust new shoes, this step is simple yet time consuming, you want to find the right slack so the shoes barely touch the drum.
a) Tighten slack in handbrake cable inside of cabin, pull and release handbrake a few times.
b) Fit rear rotor over new shoes, spin, if too loose, turn adjusting screws to spread the shoes outwards, opposite direction on each side.
b) Repeat until you feel resistance. Fit wheel, pull parking brake up 2, 4, 6 and 8 clicks, test, wheel should lock completely by 8 clicks.
14. Apply anti-seize to hub and outside flange of rotor, fit rotors retaining screws, caliper brakets, wheels, lower car.
15. Go for a test drive, slowly pull handbrake a few times at 15mph to seat the brake surface with the drums. I went for a spin around the Marina.
I felt a noticeable improvement after the new shoes when parking, but did not try to lock up the rear while moving at 15 to 20mph. I hope this helps people to avoid the pitfalls and multiple trips to the hardware store in case something unexpected happens.cherrsagai
First all the tools you need for the rear brake shoes.
If you haven't done a brake job before, follow prep work steps 1 through 5, you should arrive at the picture below:
1. Loosen rear wheel lug bolts, chock front wheels, jack up rear of car, place on jack stands, remove rear wheels.
2. Use 16mm ratching wrench to remove pair of brake bracket bolts, remove brake bracket with caliper attached, hang with zip ties.
3. 6mm hex key, remove 2 rotor retaining screws per side, if you strip it, grab a 3/16" carbide drill bit and hit it, regular drill bit does not cut it, then use screw extractor.
4. Make sure parking brake is down, remove rear brake rotors, if rotor is seized, hit with a sledge hammer, do same on other side.
5. Release some tension on parking brake cable, open up boot behind brake lever, loosen two sets of screws, 9mm and 12mm deep sockets.
Now you're ready to remove the old shoes, I tried various ways and destroyed an old spring in the process, in hind sight, do this.
6. Use a flat screw driver or any strong picking device to pull the top retaining spring hook and pry it out of the slot.
7. Fit 5mm hex key into side springs, push inward and turn 90 degree left or right to unlock, will pop out automatically.
8. Spread brake shoe outwards, it will fall off the hub, unhook bottom spring and remove adjuster screw.
9. Thoroughly clean mating surfaces with brake cleaners, and all reusable parts, here a shot of new vs. old (rusted, pitted) hardware.
10. Hook up a dremel or other rotating device and a grinding disc, cut and clean the rust inside the brake drum.
11. Apply a thin coat of anti-seize to area on backing plate where shoes slide when they expand.
12. When putting back the new shoes, after much trial and error, I found the following sequence to be most effective.
a) Position adjuster screw between bottom notches of new shoes, screw facing rear of car.
b) Hook on bottom spring, collapse shoes toward each other to facilitate this, then spread outward.
c) Spread shoes around hub from bottom and raise to position, align top notches around brake line expander.
d) Insert fixing screw on each side into middle hole on each brake shoe, pass through backing plate, turn 90 degrees to lock.
d) Here comes the tricky part, hook one end of top spring to one shoe, leaving about 10mm between other hook and its slot.
e) Use hooking end of drum brake tool, pull the spring hook towards the slot, it required quite a lot of force, I was losing grip with my shoes on the ground and I weigh close to 180lbs. As you set the tip of the hook into the slot, carefully rotate spring hook tool to release while maintaining pressure on spring hook with tool in other hand so it doesn't back out. DO NOT use fingers for this, as if and when the spring snaps out, it'll guarantee you a cut and bruise.:crying: I stumbled onto this method after 30 min of agony on one side, and 5 min of breeze on the other.
13. Adjust new shoes, this step is simple yet time consuming, you want to find the right slack so the shoes barely touch the drum.
a) Tighten slack in handbrake cable inside of cabin, pull and release handbrake a few times.
b) Fit rear rotor over new shoes, spin, if too loose, turn adjusting screws to spread the shoes outwards, opposite direction on each side.
b) Repeat until you feel resistance. Fit wheel, pull parking brake up 2, 4, 6 and 8 clicks, test, wheel should lock completely by 8 clicks.
14. Apply anti-seize to hub and outside flange of rotor, fit rotors retaining screws, caliper brakets, wheels, lower car.
15. Go for a test drive, slowly pull handbrake a few times at 15mph to seat the brake surface with the drums. I went for a spin around the Marina.
I felt a noticeable improvement after the new shoes when parking, but did not try to lock up the rear while moving at 15 to 20mph. I hope this helps people to avoid the pitfalls and multiple trips to the hardware store in case something unexpected happens.cherrsagai