rear drum off, accidentally pressed brakes, drum won't go back on

[paradigm]

I had the left rear drum off to replace the wheel studs with longer ones, when I went to shift the car into neutral to turn the brake assembly to access the last stud, I pressed the brake with the drum off, and the piston over extended, started leaking fluid and everything went out of alignment. I tried to put it back together, but the drum won't fit over the shoes anymore.

The ratcheting thing at the bottom popped out and isn't contacting the metal bracket to help turn back in the shoes. Any advice on how to get it back together so I can get the drum back over it? This is the first time I have ever worked with drum brakes.

 

[SS_Malibu]

I’ve done that before. I pulled everything off and cracked open the bleeder screw just a tiny bit and squeezed the wheel cylinder closed. Tighten the bleeder screw up immediately after to not let in any air. Then reassemble your brakes. All should be fine.

 

[86 Salon]

From your picture, I can see that the primary (front) shoe is not touching the anchor pin at the top. Make sure that the strut rod for the parking brake is installed correctly on the front shoe and the rear is on the shoe and the parking brake lever. If the rod is installed correctly, take a screwdriver and put it on the bottom of the parking brake lever and hit it with a hammer towards the rear of the vehicle. The top of the shoes need to both be touching the anchor pin at the top and they need to be centered with the axle flange. I bet the strut rod is the issue or the front piston in the wheel cylinder isn't all the way in.

 

[paradigm]

From your picture, I can see that the primary (front) shoe is not touching the anchor pin at the top. Make sure that the strut rod for the parking brake is installed correctly on the front shoe and the rear is on the shoe and the parking brake lever. If the rod is installed correctly, take a screwdriver and put it on the bottom of the parking brake lever and hit it with a hammer towards the rear of the vehicle. The top of the shoes need to both be touching the anchor pin at the top and they need to be centered with the axle flange. I bet the strut rod is the issue or the front piston in the wheel cylinder isn't all the way in.

I had to hit the front shoe and rear shoe downwards to get them back onto the anchor pin at the top center.

The rod that you are speaking of with the spring on one end fell out, and I had to put it back in, making sure the end with the smaller gap had the spring and fixed back onto the front shoe, and the wider end gap was sitting on both the parking brake and the rear shoe.

I removed the self adjusting mechanism and tightened it, making it smaller and put it back in. I got the drum back on, but now the car has very little braking pressure. I will need to try and bleed the system - how to bleed from the rear drums? Or should I find a bleeder screw in the front disc and bleed the entire system through that?

See below for the self adjusting ratcheting system I reinstalled:

 

[SS_Malibu]

If the hydraulic system was never opened and the brakes were fine beforehand, it sounds like your brakes are now adjusted too far inward (due to moving the adjuster all the way in). You can move the brakes shoes outward by using the adjuster in the above picture until the brakes are just barely touching the brake drum. In most cases, there is a slot in the back of the backing plate to make this adjustment with the drum on.

 

[paradigm]

If the hydraulic system was never opened and the brakes were fine beforehand, it sounds like your brakes are now adjusted too far inward (due to moving the adjuster all the way in). You can move the brakes shoes outward by using the adjuster in the above picture until the brakes are just barely touching the brake drum. In most cases, there is a slot in the back of the backing plate to make this adjustment with the drum on.

Thats probably the problem I am having. I bled the brakes through the bleeder screw and there was no bubbles. Would the one brake being too far inward lead to the rest of the brakes hardly working though? The car is barely stopping even after I tried to bleed the brakes.

I will try to adjust out the rear shoes.

Also the parking brake light is always on now, even without the parking brake engaged. It went out briefly but came back on.

 

[paradigm]

I used the adjuster to adjust outward the shoes and it made the brake system better, but still too much travel in the brake pedal now compared to before.

 

[ELCAM]

Sounds like air entered the system when the wheel cylinder was over extended, especially if the brake warning light came on.

 

[SS_Malibu]

The farther the drum brakes are adjusted outward the less the pedal will travel before engaging the brakes. As ELCAM said, some air could have entered the system when the wheel cylinder was over extended. Bleeding the rear brakes my be necessary.

I do know this, you will know a lot more about drum brakes when this is all over. 😉

 

[Supercharged111]

How's your adjustment on the other side? As mentioned one corner being insufficiently adjusted will cause excessive pedal travel. Case in point my plow truck, brakes sucked from day 1 when I bought it. I swapped out the emergency brake cables for not seized ones and adjusted the right rear and now the pedal is right up to the top. Most drums aren't perfectly true, so you should hear the shoes kissing the drums at some point. If they're not you need to put more clicks on that adjuster. If you go to far it's not that big a deal to turn them back.