Is it possible for the cylinder to leak like it did only temporarily?? No I did not bleed the brakes, I never took anythign off other than the shoes. My manual did not say anything about it. SHould I have?
****** The wheel cylinders can leak when you are trying to get the shoes held down, get the actuating rods back between the shoes and the pistons in the cylinder, etc. This is because the pistons inside the cylinders can be pressed too far to one end or the other of the cylinder bore, and some fluid could leak out. This, in itself, is not a serious problem if you get them back like they should be AND if they are not corroded and leaking.
If you could have a person who knows how to reassemble the rear drum brakes help you do this just once, you would find it a lot easier next time.
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I drove in reverse and applied the brake several times to adjust them. Was that right?
****** Normally, you pre-adjust the rear brakes before you go through that step.
If the brakes are too far out of adjustment, the autoadjusters will not activate properly on backing up and you will have a problem.
To do this, you put the drum back on. Then, there is usually a hole in the backing plate of the rear brake assembly through which you can insert a tool and advance the starwheel until almost all the slack is taken out of the braking system...The tool required looks a little like a flatblade screwdriver, and a fine blade screwdriver has been used millions of times to do this job.
Jim refers to tools required to do this job.. I have never found a use for the special brake pliars that are often advertised and are found in FLAPS.
There is a special tool used to put the retainers on the hold down rods that is helpful, but this job can be done with a regular set of pliars, with a little practice..
There is also a special tool that can be used to remove and replace the springs and, to me, this one IS helpful, but you can do the job, if you are strong, with a set of diagonal cutters...They allow you to get a good grip on the springs and - despite what it sounds like - they do not damage the springs.
If a car is getting old, I would at least inspect the wheel cylinders. I would guess that not too many people rebuild them nowadays because they are normally fairly cheap to replace.
BUT if you want to replace them, be careful and do not booger up the brakeline nut that screws into the old ones when you try to replace them...Use a "line wrench" - not a Crescent nor even an open end wrench.
One last thing...did you take the adjusters apart, clean them in solvent, and re-lubricate them before you put them back on? You want to be sure those adjusters move freely. Nota Bene: The adjusters on the left side are different from those on the right and they are not at all interchangeable. You dont have to worry about this since you did only one side, and there should have been no chance you would get the wrong one on the wrong side.