How to change brakes on a 1/2 ton 4x4 continued (rear brakes)

[Irishman999]

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Ok here is the rear drum brakes. These will piss you off, they look confusing as all hell but are really simple. Its best to do one at a time, when you need to remember where a spring goes you can walk over to the other side of the truck and see where the spring goes.

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these springs should be the first to go, just grab the round washer thing with a pair of needle nose pliers and push in while twisting. Each shoe has one. After these are off the shoes move easyer to move. After that i just pop off springs with a screwdriver until everything is off.

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Now that the springs and shoe madness is gone you can see the wheel cylinder at the top. I replaced those too, 10 bucks a peice.

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here is the nearly finished product, there is an adjuster between the two shoes on the bottom that has threads, make sure you thread the adjuster back in (make it shorter) before you install it back in. Somebody please correct me if this is wrong but i put the thicker shoe on the back, i cant remember if it goes on the front or back and my shoes were to worn to tell.

After you get all this back together its time to adjust them. The adjuster is on the bottom and does a ratcheting action. It self adjusts when you apply your parking brake but you still need to adjust them before you put the drum back on.

to adjust these turn the adjuster on the bottom so that its expanding until there is some drag from the brakes, push in your parking brake and release. Drive it and feel the back wheel, if its really hot your brakes might be to tight. You should be able to feel it while trying to drive also.

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This master cylinder is easy to switch out, its right on the end of the power brake unit and has two nuts holding it on. The nuts required a 15mm socket to remove and the two lines are 5/8 in if i recall. This requires a bleeding process, usually you mount it in a vice and bench bleed it. Instead i installed it on the truck and installed the plastic block off nuts included in the kit.

The instructions for bleeding are included in the box. After you bleed the master cylinder reconnect the 2 brake lines and your all set to bleed the rest of the system. As soon as you get the air out of your brake system your ready for a test drive.

Always make sure you have a firm pedal before you test drive.

 

[f1shman]

Somebody please correct me if this is wrong but i put the thicker shoe on the back, i cant remember if it goes on the front or back and my shoes were to worn to tell.

You did it right. The shoe with the longer lining should always be towards the rear of the vehicle to ensure that the emergency brake functions properly. Great write up!

 

[TheGolem]

I know this is old, but Its awesome. Especially for people like me, who are new to working on brakes (or motor vehicles in general). Youtube tutorials aren't abundant for these old trucks like they are for new vehicles. Therefore; folks should keep posting write ups like this!