65K on the girl and it time to repalce the pads front and rear. Problem is, the rear calipers are a bear to remove. Seems the e-brake shoes are hing up in the rotor-drum. Even after I rewound the adjuster all the way in, a bear to remvoe. I did get one off and am fighting with the other now.

The trouble is, when I install the new e-brake shoes and new rotor's, I can't get the rotor over the new e-brake shoes. Any idea why and what to do to put this back together?




71Chally

 

Dont replace the e- brake shoes, just leave the old ones on. There shouldn't be any wear on them since they are not used to brake just hold the car parked.

 

Actually, there is quite a bit of wear on the e-brake shoes. I'd say the friction material is only 0.010 thick, new looks to be 0.040 or so. There is wear and a ridge on the bore of the "drum", hence my decision to replace the rotors and e-brake shoes.

I think the parking brake may be in a "short" or partial apply state, even when the hand adjustment is released. Any idea how to figure this out. I've owned the car since new and am wondering if it's been wrong since new?

71Chally

 

Interesting, are your rear pads that worn at 65k? Let me look for the service manual and see if I can find it for you. My rear pads look like new at 90k.

 

Strangely, my rear pads were down to 3mm while my fronts are at 5mm. The inside of the rear rotor is badly scored on the right side though the outside looks about normal. Haven't gotten the left rotor off yet.

Something is funny. I've done lots of brake jobs, this one looks a bit odd to me.


71Chally

 

Inner pads will wear more than the outer with certain driving styles. To make the removal easier, get a screwdriver between the rotor and inner pad, undo bleeder and then lever the pad back slightly, tighten bleeder and remove caliper.
When installation is complete, just make certain there is no drag on the shoes, but if so, the adjustments can be made through a combination of lever and shoe adjustments. There is also a a correct way to break in the new shoes by doing some driving with the lever raised and the shoes contactiing the rotor. Don't have the specifiecs off the top of my head but it is on the Forum.

 

What kind of adjustgments can you make with the lever? I have run the adjusters in all the way and still cant get the rotor-drum over the shoes?

 

I was speaking of the adjustment after installation. The factory shoes have minimal material when new, so curious are they factory replacement shoes or aftermarket?
How about the rotor?

 

The repalcement shoes are NAPA ultra premium. The new shoe thickness looks correct per my service manual. the new roto/drum's are also NAPA Ultr PRemium and also measure correctly.

I'm still fighting to get the other side rotor off. I've cut the anchor pins off and still fighting to get the rotor/drum off. I can pull it far enough out withthe jack screws that I can see how the shoes are hung up on the ridge on the edge of the drum. I really don't want to have to pull the anchor pin as it looks like to do so, I'll have to remove the lower end of the strut, but barring any other ideas, that looks like the next step.

Anyone else done this replacement?

71Chally

 

After installing the new shoes, try and put the OE rotor on to see if that fits. If it does, and the new rotor doesn't I'd say a problem with the rotor drum size, but if neither rotor can be slid on, either the shoes are incorrect or a problem with the installation. Although the e-brake adjuster at the wheel is in all the way in, although stuipid, make certain that the e brake lever is all the way down. Also make certain the cable is not holding the e brake shoes outward and not allowing them to fully contract. You can always loosen the cable with the nut under the console, I believe under the floor inside the console lid.

 

Success!!

Got the left rotor off. What a B**** Ended up having to take a bit of the suspension apart and pull the center anchor. Drove it out of the knuckle with a brass drift. This loosened the shoes enough that I finally could get the rotor off.

Went back to the right side with a new brake hardware kit. My theory is, that with the shoes hanging up on the drum ridge, when I used the jack screws to pull the rotors off, I colapsed the anchor pin tension springs. When I went to reuse them, the shoes would not sit flat against the backing plate and so I could not get the new rotor over the cocked shoes. The new brake hardware kit tension springs ensured that the shoes were flat on the plate.

I was also careful to ensure that the anchor pin which goes through the shoe attached to the parking brake lever was clocked correctly so that the "hump" in the pin would not interfere with the brake lever. Not sure this is necessary, but it helped line up the tension spring.

As to the original rotors, they are junk. No way they'd go back on over the new shoes. If I can figure out how, I'll post photos of this nasty job to help others do this some day themselves.

BTW, I mic'd the NAPA Ultra Premium rotors. The drum spec diameter is 6.689 - 6.692 inch. Mine mic'd at 6.691 inch with a dial caliper. They slid on with just a bit of friction with the adjuster racked all the way in. I sanded the pads a bit with 120 grit and the drum bore as well. The rotor then slid on perfectly.


Nasty rotors

 

Board would not let me edit my post to load photo links. Here they are:

Nasty rotors
https://picasaweb.google.com/1140860...56421415104642
https://picasaweb.google.com/1140860...56427364028194

Damaged shoes
https://picasaweb.google.com/1140860...56629009836722
https://picasaweb.google.com/1140860...56643822853298

Mount Point details
https://picasaweb.google.com/1140860...56629009836722
https://picasaweb.google.com/1140860...56620857678450
https://picasaweb.google.com/1140860...56511656814514

Threaded end of adjuster points to the shoe with parking brake lever

Good luck to the next guy to try this!

Astrobuf / 71Chally

 

Glad you finally got everything to work. Back on the road again.

 

I am having the same problem, what did you do to get the disk over the shoes ?