stuck drums

On my car, I removed the axle nuts and used a screw driver to release the brake shoes on the back side just under the wheel cylinders, you will find a rubber plug. The plug is removed and a screw driver is pushed in to trip the automatic brake adjuster. Once that is done they should just slide off, if you have the axle nut off. An impact wrench with a socket is the best way to remove the axle nuts. They can be removed with a wrench, whacking the wrench hard with a hammer. Usually they aren't that tight.

From what I've read of your posts, replacing the brakes may be over your head. If you can't get the axle nut off, it says your mechanicing may be in need. Maybe stick to bikes. :O) Oh, and a quart of brake fluid should do it to replace the fluid. The front rotors are a whole different ball game as far as the brake pads, but the axle is the same. I'd say front brake pads are easier to do then the back brakes. Back brakes last a whole lost longer then front brakes so they likely do not need any replacement.

You should search around for some pics/tutorials on care/maintenance for your Soob. maybe buy a Chiltons or haynes Manual too. You can do a lot yourself, but having some guidance or, better yet, inviting an experienced buddy over to help will prevent a lot of major mistakes.

Search around at

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be careful!

Carl

Release the parking brake.

Thanks Bob. Doing my own work on all my bikes is what gave me the confidence to step up to the car!

Just to clarify, I can get the axle nuts off no problem. I just didn't use as much "persuasion" as possible on the drums because I didn't think I had the right replacement part.

I have a buddy who has shown me a few things and has the tools necessary. We removed the rubber plug on the back, but I think we removed the wrong one. The chilton's guide I have showed the plug near the bottom, but we tried the top one at first. Like I said, we didn't pursue it because we thought we had the wrong replacement drums. The brakes are off, the wheels are spinning freely.

The Chilton's info is good, but I find it is a rough guide only. You need somebody experienced handy to deal with snags. "Remove drums" is not all that useful of an instruction when you don't know that the drum is seized to the flange.

We will try again on Monday, and we might start with the front first just to see what those flanges look like.

Thanks all. Chicobiker

The rubber plug is nearer the top. A screw driver or something like it is pushed in and it causes the automatic adjuster to release. It will be easier to understand once you get one off. If you don't release the automatic adjuster, the shoes might hang up on the lip of the inside of the drum if there is one.

A trick I learned is not to take the tire off. This makes it easier to remove the axle nut and gives you more leverage to monkey with the brake drum. Rap things with a big hammer a couple of times and things might loosen up for you. Leaving the tire on the drums also makes it easier to tighten the axle nuts when you put them back on.

I replaced all 4 corners today.

I started with the drums again. This time, knowing what the parts looked like, and armed with 8mm bolts, I was confident. Things didn't start well. One of the two bolt holes in the drums quickly stripped and became useless. However, it didn't take long for the other bolt to snap the drums loose. Beauty. In fact, the outside part of the drum broke right off. See pic:

Those with a sharp eye will notice the rust on the break. At least

2/3rds of that break was old. The funny thing is that the car passed an Ontario Safety Standards test just yesterday. Hmmm ...

Anyway, It didn't take too long to put the new ones back together. I now see the adjuster, and can see how easy it would be to adjust from the outside.

Drum #2 came off even easier (with the 8mm bolts of course).

Rotor #1 came off pretty easy. The bolts holding the brake pad housing were very hard coming out, but came out. At this point, we broke for lunch. When we came back from lunch, we set about the task of putting the new pads in the housing. Uh oh. They are not the right pads. A quick trip to the parts store for some compatible pads. I had to settle with Munroe pads in order to get the job done. Once we returned to the job, I set about putting the brake pad housing back on the wheel hub. I put too much force on the bolt and broke it.

The job had been going so well, and now it was turning sour. Thankfully, it was very easy to remove the remainder of the offending bolt. The brake pad housing could be put in a vise and the remaining bolt was sticking out enough for vise-grips. Now came the hard part of finding a replacement. An auto-parts dealer didn't have anything, two japanese car dealers had nothing, and finally canadian tire had some lower grade bolts. We weren't happy with that for the important job of holding the brakes on, so we called the nearest Subaru dealership. It was only 20minutes drive away, and they had the bolts, so off we went. About 3 hours after the broken bolt, we were back in business.

Putting that corner together went fine after that. I used a torque wrench earlier in the process this time!

The 2nd rotor was up next. Getting the caliper off was no trouble. I put in the 8mm bolts in the rotors and started cranking. I thought bolt number felt a little soft. I went to bolt #2 and it broke. I extracted bolt #1 and it was bent. I put in a 3rd bolt and it eventually broke. Same quality bolts as I was contemplating for the opposite side caliper. Glad I didn't use them! Torch and persuasion hammer and that corner came out.

Brakes feel great now. Even with the challenges of the job, I don't think it was particularly complicated, and well within my abilities for the future. I certainly would give myself a whole day though. A simple thing like a broken bolt sure adds hours to a job pretty quickly!

Chicobiker

Good job! And an important reminder for us all; bolts ain't bolts :-). Use proper high-tensile or high-shear bolts where they're called-for...

Clifford Heath.