Frigging Brake Drum
 

Okay Guys, I'm trying to help a buddy out with his 96 SL. He is disabled and VERY mechanically challenged, if you know what I mean. I've been taking him back and forth to work at Walmart for the last few days and want to help him fix his car. He told me the brakes went out a couple of weeks ago and I finally got it out of him that as he was traveling down his driveway, the brake pedal just went to the floor. I got a chance to check it out today and his damn front pads are worn into the rotors! I chewed on his ass about that and then found the root of the problem is that he has a leaking wheel cylinder on the left rear. Try as I might, I can't get the frigging brake drum off. Any one got any suggestions? I can't look at it again until Thursday and am thinking a couple of pry bars and my propane torch may come in handy, but I can't really use the torch as I don't want to catch the car on fire. How in the hell do you get these drums off? I've never run into a problem like this before in my 40+ years of fooling with cars. Is there a trick to them or just the fact that they're rusted on? I'm going to squirt some Kroil on them and let them sit for a day and try it again Thursday when I get the time. What are the odds of removing the plugs on the back side of the backing plate and releasing the shoes that way? Which direction would I need to go, pry up or down on the star wheel adjuster? Haynes manual is virtually useless on this situation. Thanks for any help or suggestions.

I've had a couple that were cranky at first, and no offense, here's a couple of points to check before resorting to the torch ....

1) Make sure the emergency brake is FULLY released.

2) Yes, removing the plugs and releasing the shoes is a viable option, especially if he's run them this long

The E brake was the first thing I checked, Mike. Just my luck, the sum beech WAS fully released. I'll take my propane torch over there Thursday and see what I can catch on fire, I guess. Sorry bunch of co-workers at Walmart won't even lift a finger to help the poor guy out. I'm seriously thinking of shopping elsewhere from now on. Why support a company that won't even help their employees?

Tough break there, Charlie ...

Yeah, They (WallyWorld) keep claiming they "for the people", but actions speak louder than words ...

Not to beat an already beaten horse, but when you say the e brake is fully released what are you basing that on? If the shoes can't be moved to verify e-brake funtionality then how do you know if the e-brake is stuck on or not? I made the assumption that the shoes don't move.

I must admit I don't know as much as I should about drum brakes but if the shoes are apparently jammed solid against the drum and the adjuster won't move, I'm-a-thinking the e-brake might be seized and pinning everything in place.

Or I'm wrong.

Nahhh, you're wrong on this one, derf. I can turn the brake drum with the e-brake fully released, I just can't get the damned drum to come off. I'll be back at it maybe tomorrow afternoon and then for sure on Thursday. One way or another, that sum beech is going to come off. We have much colder weather headed our way after we are supposed to get some rain Saturday, so I gotta get him back on the road ASAP. I can't afford the gas to keep transporting him much longer. I can't honestly ask him for gas money as he's struggling more than I am. His wife and daughter are both disabled too and he's the only income in the family.

I don't know exactly what the drum setup is, since I own an Ion, but I used to work on a bunch of old British and American stuff in my wrenching days. We had pretty good luck lightly heating the drum, and then using a shot mallet, hitting the drum along the circumference(on the side facing the outside of the car). Eventually, the drum would break loose from the asymmetrical blows- it was lot easier than prying on the drum from the back side. Don't know if this helps...

now that sounds like some useful info.

In my WRONG ebrake scenario described above, you neglected to point out that the rear wheels would have been dragging on the ground during driving -- a highly non-optimal scenario.

I like learning stuff.

When I get finished with this mother, I'm going to post some pictures of what I've run across on the front ones at least. God must be looking out for Brent and his family is all I'm going to say at this point in time.

Just prior to this, Rubehayseed wrote:

"When I get finished with this mother, I'm going to post some pictures of what I've run across on the front ones at least. God must be looking out for Brent and his family is all I'm going to say at this point in time. "

While Rube's yet to provide additional data, from what has gone before leads me to believe the pictures are going to show a classic case of neglect on the part of the owner