3 more (hopefully last) questions about the drum brakes...

I wouldn't adjust it that tight. Just adjust it up until you feel some drag and then back it off until there is no or very little drag.

You have an adjusting arm that is engaged with the star wheel. It allows the star wheel to tighten, but won't allow it to release. If you want to turn the star wheel in a direction that releases the brake shoes, you just use one small screwdriver to push the arm away from the star wheel while you turn the star wheel in the direction you want with another small screwdriver.

A little drag is fine....but there is no need to have enough drag so that you get a "burning" smell. That would be too tight.

The park brake is not self adjusting....the rear brake shoes are self adjusting. The park brake is just a mechanical arm that is connected to and uses the brake shoes to perform the park brake operation.

When you want to adjust your park brake, the first order of business is to make sure the rear brake shoes are properly adjusted (which is what you are trying to do). Once that is done, if the park brake pedal still goes to far down to the floor in order to engage the park brake, then you need to adjust the park brake cable. That sits along the frame on the drivers side.

Ian

Everyone has their opinion on this. I personally take the position that an actual "licenced" mechanic ought to be able to look at the hardware and the age/mileage of the vehicle and determine whether a spring kit is needed. If you are just a DIY'er.....it might not be a bad idea to replace the hardware. If you can get a hardware kit for 6 bucks, you can't really go wrong.

I think that a lot of shops use this stuff as simply an easy way to make more money. Which is why you can run your car into a brake shop for that "59.95" brake job and come back out with a thousand dollar bill. I know guys that really believe that you must change the rear wheel cylinders at every rear brake job. Ridiculous! They are also the same ones that want to overhaul the calipers at every brake job.

I'd take it apart, clean up the threads, and lubricate it. Make sure that it threads in and out easily. You can also take a look at the star wheel and check the shape of the teeth. It's unlikely that you will see anything abnormal, but I've run across a few that had damaged/worn teeth.

Ian

Thank you so much Ian!!!!

This is great information!!!! How much do I owe you? :-)

One last question:

When replacing the drum brakes, how important is it to buy a drum brake replacement kit and replace all the springs while in there? I'd guess it's a good idea to do once you're in there but is it necessary? Mieneke told my friend that it's a must because springs get a certain amount of retention with it's existing shoes. I can see their point BUT they're trying to tack on another $20 to $30 when I know those kits cost $5.99 at Autozone.

Also, is it a good idea to go ahead and replace the adjusting screw while in there or just use the old one? I heard those last forever. At a minimum, probobly good just to lubricate it.

thanks aga>

Thanks for the tip. I'll do that then.

Yeah, the guy at Mieneke (thought I was a boob (I'm by no means an expert. No even close *but* I'm not dumb with cars either)) was trying to tell me that the new rear brakes will not work if you use the same springs, actuators, etc.. and adjusting mechanism from your previous brakes because "they're used to the tension with the old shoes". They want $150 to replace the brake shoes on both drum brakes. Hmm... Autozone sells 2 pair of lifetime shoes for $19, the brake kit for $6 and maybe some brake grease for $3. That's $28. What's with the other $122? I have enough confidence to do this job myself. I did it with a friend 4 years ago but forgot alot but have pretty good instructions (plus your advice).

Which leads me to the next question, what type of lubricant do you think is the best to use? Also, what's the best high temp grease you prefer to use when lubricating the side of the shoes that rest on the backing plate? Do you think spreading a little of that anti-squeak (or disc brake quiet (which says even works on drum brake linings as well as disc brakes)) on the linings is worth it?

Wow! Thank God for people like you on the internet!!! Very helpful!!!

This is the kind of bullshit that runs rampant throughout our trade. Unfortunate, but true. They seem to teach this sort of stuff at a lot of the stupid brake chain stores. We've got one of these kinds of techs in our dealership, and he's the biggest rip-off artist I've seen yet in 25 years in the trade. Of course, the management loves him and turns a blind eye because of all the money that he generates for them. Eventually (it always happens) his actions will burn the shop, and then the management will be wondering what happened, and the rest of us will be telling them that "we told you so"......etc.

I happen to like using anti-seize compound on both of those locations. Do not use disk brake quiet type stuff on the rear brake shoes. It's very rare that you get any type of brake squeal from the rear shoes. It's almost always the front pads. And, just for you own info, the best type of "disc brake quiet" is a lubricant. I always use the same type of silicone grease that is used on the caliper pins....spread this grease on the back of the brake pads where they will contact either the caliper, or the piston. This works best for me. I've used the other "RTV" type of disc brake quiet and haven't found it to be that effective.

Ian

Wow! Thanks Ian. Too bad you're not close by where I live. I'd pay you big $$$ to show me a trick or two. I'm nothing more than a "weekend wanna be mechanic" and am not even that.

--------- I always use the same type of silicone grease that is used on the caliper pins....spread this grease on the back of the brake pads where they will contact either the caliper

---------

May be the stupidist question I ever asked. I trust your opinion though. That disk brake quiet stuff dries and appears to act like a glue but does the grease do the same thing?

"they're used to the tension with the old shoes".

OMG thats a good one.

You know what they say, there are no stupid questions!

We used to use the disk brake quiet stuff a lot, but frankly it didn't work well for us. We use the silicone grease between the brake pads and the piston and caliper. "Back side of the brake pads". The theory is that the grease allows the pad to move freely which actually dampens the tendancy to squeal. Squealing comes from the pads vibrating...the lubricant allows the pad to move without vibrating against whatever it is up against (piston or the caliper, depending on which pad it is.)

This is nothing new. When I owned a 1980 toyota corona, the factory brake pads would come with grease and shims. You would install the shims on the back of the pads, and apply grease to the area's where the pad would contact the caliper. Never had any squeals from those pads. But if you bought the aftermarket cheapy pads...they came with no shims, no grease. If you didn't transfer the old shims over and use grease, they would squeal like a bastard.

Ian