Drum Brakes: Ugh...

Carguy-- think captive rotors & needing to replace them, add a leaking caliper seal & binding caliper slides. Don't even think about rebuilding a rear caliper with the parking brake built in!

I've only tried to service drum brakes once -- on our old Focus wagon. I was defeated from the start, couldn't even figure out how to get the drum off! There must've been a bolt hidden somewhere holding it on, but I certainly couldn't find it!

These days the only vehicle I own that has drum brakes is my trailer. That Focus was replaced by an Odyssey, which has discs.

I love that we have a forum full of people who will:

Slide a Porsche/Subaru drivetrain under a Wartburg

Build your own hybrid, AWD fiero.

Stuff a Duramax into anything

OR add EFI to anything that didn't originally have it.

But are afraid of working on carburetors, points ignition and drum brakes because they are "too difficult".

Shawn

In reply to Trans_Maro:

how true, lols

Curmudgeon wrote: I'm olde skool, when I leared brake repair we didn't have camera phones because the dinosaurs ate them all. So after screwing up the first time way back when I learned to just do them one side at a time.

I'm back to doing them that way now. They last so long, and my memory is so bad anymore, I don't really have a choice. I still don't own one of those phones.

Trans_Maro wrote: I love that we have a forum full of people who will: Slide a Porsche/Subaru drivetrain under a Wartburg Build your own hybrid, AWD fiero. Stuff a Duramax into anything OR add EFI to anything that didn't originally have it. But are afraid of working on carburetors, points ignition and drum brakes because they are "too difficult". Shawn

They're not the same people.

Zomby woof wrote:

Trans_Maro wrote: I love that we have a forum full of people who will: Slide a Porsche/Subaru drivetrain under a Wartburg Build your own hybrid, AWD fiero. Stuff a Duramax into anything OR add EFI to anything that didn't originally have it. But are afraid of working on carburetors, points ignition and drum brakes because they are "too difficult". Shawn

They're not the same people.

I said, "I don't feel like it".

You also said Ugh.

Ain't read the whole thread but after ya get a cpl sets of drum brakes under yur belt it's really no sweat. Buy the cheap brake tool set so ya don't jerk yurself off and keep everything in order. Clean and lube parts or replace as kits.. they're berkeleyin' cheap. So, what's the problem?

Not too crazy 'bout AC Beetle drums tho, WTF.

drums brakes are easy- if you have the proper tools and only do one side at a time.. they suck if you only have a screwdriver and a pliers and just tear everything apart and throw it in one big pile- or if someone else doesn't have the proper tools and tears them apart and you have to figure out how it all goes back together...

fasted58 wrote: Buy the cheap brake tool set so ya don't jerk yurself off

I must be doing something wrong. This has never happened to me.

Streetwiseguy wrote:

Zomby woof wrote: Whiners. Drums are cake, and they last almost indefinitely. Learn to recognize a good thing when you see it. duh.. someone beat me to it

They are just a bunch of girlymen. Sadly, I'm not sure where to get semimetallic shoes to replace the Abex ones in my Camaro. Is it Porterfield that still makes them?

Carbotech... give them a pattern and they claim they can/will make just about anything

edit: oops ... someone beat me to it

Curmudgeon wrote: I'm olde skool, when I leared brake repair we didn't have camera phones because the dinosaurs ate them all. So after screwing up the first time way back when I learned to just do them one side at a time.

I needed new shoes on the front of my 66 Fury II in about 1976. I put the right side back together by looking at the left...which had me UN-adjusting the shoes with each stop...until they fell apart coming up to the highway...on a car with a single hydraulic circuit...I was only 10 miles from home, so it wasn't a big deal. Just gotta remember to start slowing down a bit early.

Food for thought: ISTR that on Neons, the rear drum setup had less unsprung weight than the disks.

Carter

Trans_Maro wrote: I love that we have a forum full of people who will: Slide a Porsche/Subaru drivetrain under a Wartburg Build your own hybrid, AWD fiero. Stuff a Duramax into anything OR add EFI to anything that didn't originally have it. But are afraid of working on carburetors, points ignition and drum brakes because they are "too difficult". Shawn

hahaha. So true. We must all be getting younger every day.

In reply to erohslc:

Yep. Generally accepted that the discs are only useful on roadrace tracks, and even then its iffy.

Streetwiseguy wrote: In reply to erohslc: Yep. Generally accepted that the discs are only useful on roadrace tracks, and even then its iffy.

Sounds like my Mk.2 Golf. Not really worth the trouble to convert them for the street..all the rear axle does is hold the back seat off the ground. I don't like working on drums either, but I've only had to do it three or four times in 250K (in 19yrs) on it. And that's even with cheap shoes!

I still have to do one side at a time, though.

I don't really mind working in them. It sort of apeals to the same part of the brain as crossword puzzles...

Joey

Disassembly and successful reassembly of a set of rear drums is one of the three things I require as the final exam in my Tech school brakes class the others are turning a drum and turning a rotor. With that knowledge most fo my students can go work at a shop doing oil changes and brake jobs to start with. I am not a huge fan of working on drums but it's not that hard once you know the tricks and have a pair of needle nose vice grips.

Zomby woof wrote: Whiners. Drums are cake, and they last almost indefinitely. Learn to recognize a good thing when you see it.

This.

Drums are really easy to service. And they're a lot cheaper than disks.

I suspect that a lot of people who hate drums/love disks live in areas where you don't have to worry about the rear disks not getting enough heat in them to burn off the overnight rust. Even if the calipers don't seize into uselessness after a year, the rotors will be mostly rusted with a thin band of good surface in the middle.

If it's a light car with FWD, there is no reason for it to have disks in the back, other than automotive masochism.

Threshold braking in a car with rear drums in the rain...no fun. PITA to service and 10X as many parts to fail. No thanks.

No nostalgia for drum brakes here.

Really? Must have been that particular car. The ex's disc/drum Accord was easy to threshold in the rain.

Tyler H wrote: Threshold braking in a car with rear drums in the rain...no fun. PITA to service and 10X as many parts to fail. No thanks. No nostalgia for drum brakes here.

You have a bias / compound problem, not a brake design problem.

Really, they're not that hard.

EFI has 10X as many parts to fail but folks keep insisting it's better than a carburetor.

Thankfully, not all young guys are scared of old technology (hell, I'm 34 and I already sound like my dad). My shop rat is 17 and he can service drum brakes, set points, replace king pins etc with no problems.

How many of you sissies can do that?

I don't have any issues with drum brakes on the rear. Someone still machines shoes to match the drums? Now thats professional grade.

Curmudgeon wrote: Really? Must have been that particular car. The ex's disc/drum Accord was easy to threshold in the rain.

Yep. My RX-7s brakes after the big brake conversion (FC/GSL-SE bits) are horrible for threshold braking. Back when it was all 12A parts, I could do it with great ease.

And let's not start about my current VW's (all disk) brakes. There's zero pedal feel, you tell if you have a tire locking up by the smell of melting rubber. Fortunately, the brakes are weak enough that actually locking is unlikely. Especially in the rain. The brakes do not work if they are wet, unless you left foot brake for about five seconds to first clean the water off/heat the pads. (NAPA ceramic pads, F-- would not buy again)

There are way too many variables involved to make a blanket statement.