Front Brake and Rear Brakes

By-David Trujillo

The parts are not very expensive. We need to remove the wheels one at a time. We will need to visually inspect the brake pads. The brake pads are flat moon shaped pieces, that fit inside the housing this is called the Caliper. In this Caliper there is a large piston that pushes outward on the pads. Applying pressure on the rotor to make the car stop. The brake pads when new are about one inch thick. The rotor should have a smooth flat surface.

If there are excessive amount of grooves the rotor will have to be resurfaced or replaced. Cars today come equipped with four-wheel disk brakes. But there are some that still have the drum brake on the rear. Sometimes there might not be a choice it depends on the degree of stopping power that is required. Drum brakes systems are similar to pads.

The similarity is that in order to stop a breaking material is pressed against a metal surface. They are made of a ceramic type material that can take very hot temperatures and not brake down. So drum brakes press out on a brake drum. This is how the vehicle is stopped. Let’s proceed in changing the break pads first. We already went to the parts store and bought brake pads and brake shoes.

We return the brake cores for a refund. We will use a 12mm hex wrench to remove the two caliper bolts. The caliper bolts removed we can pull the caliper out of the housing. Take a 'C Clamp' and tighten it against inside brake pad to push the piston back inside the caliper sleeve. The 'C Clamp' will be positioned against the back of the caliper housing and the center of the inside brake pad.

Tighten the 'C Clamp' until you have pushed the piston inside. The pad will now be flush with the caliper housing. Remove the old pads; put some brake lubricant on the backside of the brake pad. This is the side where the springs fit inside the piston housing.

This is the only part that is lubricated. (Do not get any lubricant on rotor or the break pad.) You now have both brake pads correctly positioned in the caliper. Slip the caliper back in place. Rotor will be in between the two pads. Replace caliper bolts and tighten. Do the same to the other side.

Once you have completed replacing front pads, you can then bleed air out of system. Bleeding the brake system requires two people. The person inside of vehicle presses down on brake pedal. Holding it in position until told to release pedal. This keeps the air from going back in the lines.

The person on the outside opens bleeder valve on caliper. The bleeder looks just like a grease zerk. Release any excess air in the system. To do this you use a 10mm box end wrench. Just open system enough for small amount of fluid or air to be released. Once you have a steady flow of break fluid and no air or bubbles.

The bleeding process is done. You do this process on all the wheels. Get a self bleeder you can do the process alone. They cost $10 dollars but they do save a lot of headaches. (Tricks for the wise man) If you are doing these procedures for the first time, always remember you have an example.

The opposite wheel is the mirror image for you to look and compare. This way if you think the parts may be out of place. Look at it before removing any parts. Nothing worse than finishing a job with extra parts, do the job correctly or not at all! The braking system is the most important Safety System on any vehicle.

The engineer that created the vehicle braking system had you in mind. Braking systems have dual protection for its passengers. They have built a safety precaution within the system. If for any reason the front brakes were to fail. The back breaks would stop the vehicle. Less efficiently but at least it would stop. They call this a redundant breaking system. Just another little piece of valuable information, we have completed the front braking system.

Rear Drum Brakes

We are now going to work on the drum brakes. Drum brakes/Rear Brakes is a dual system in itself because there is a parking brake assembly. Drum breaks are also equipped with a self-adjusting brake mechanism. On the whole what we have found is that rear drum breaks do not require replacement as often as the front pad assembly does.

Let’s go ahead and finish the total procedure for brake replacement. The brake shoes and hand brakes follow the same principles. First thing is to remove rear wheels. This time I am going to use my hydraulic center jack. You can buy one of these for around $50 dollars. They definitely are a handy piece of equipment.

Position your jack in the middle of the axle and lift up the complete rear end. Put safety jack stands on both sides of the vehicle for security. Remove wheels and start on right or left. Take a rubber mallet and pound on break drum to loosen. Remember the brake drum has probably not been removed for around 60,000 miles.

This should break it loose; never pound on the drum with metal hammer. This is made out of a rigid metal and it will break. That's what I thought a couple of taps and it’s loose. Pull the brake drum towards you. Wobble it a little to make it slide right off. We will visually check for any fluid leaks.

Dry blackish powder is natural. This is the brake pad material. The rear brake shoes new should be about one inch thick. If they are worn down relatively thin go ahead and replace them. Normally if the brake shoes looked good, we would put it back together.

We are going to replace ours. (Look at all the parts and become aware of there location).

Picture how the brake shoes and springs are located. One of the big mistakes most beginners do. Look at the hand brake mechanism. It is a single arm attached to a cable. The cable comes from the front of the vehicle and tees in the middle. This cable then goes to the right and left brake shoes.

That should be enough of a visual impression for you. Let’s get back to changing the brake shoes. The spring going across the top is the adjusting screw spring. The shorter spring on the bottom is called the brake shoe retracting spring. There are two hold down break pad springs. The last hold the brake pads in place. To remove these you have to pushing in and turn 1/4 turn to release the spring.

(They have a tool that I would recommend) getting unless you feel confident that you will be able to remove it. There will be a diagram for you to associate where the parts go. If you have a good memory you will have no problem. Make your own drawing; sometimes the visual that you create is much better for you.

In the middle is the brake adjusting screw. One of the main parts that have to go in correctly is the parking break lever. The brake shoes are the only part that is being replaced. But as you can see, when the springs come off. Everything just falls apart in your hands. The good thing is you can look at the drawing.

We have great faith that you will have no problems. Check the rear brake drum for any huge gouges in the drum. The other thing would be if the drum had been machined. You would be able to tell that right away because it would be thin. The brake drums will normally be about one half inch thick. Lets clean out the entire old break pad dust. Just give it the once over and clean out the excess gunk.

Once you have accomplished this we can start reassembly. We recommend putting on the brake shoes hold down springs first. We found that to be the best way unless you have four hands. Put the brake-adjusting nut in the middle. Remember it consists of four different parts.

Brake shoe adjusting socket, washer, brake adjuster screw and the adjusting pivot nut. On the left end, remember the brake shoe adjusting lever. You can see there are two slots is the brake shoe adjusting socket. Now fit this whole part that you have constructed between the brake shoes. Put in the parking brake lever pins.

Put on the parking brake lever and twist the cable back in the way you took it apart. The last two parts to put together are the retaining springs. Top is the adjusting screw spring. The bottom spring is the brake shoe retracting spring. So there you have it. You have now learned how to do another repair task.

Which is definitely is going to save you loads of money. You should be able to tackle the last one by yourself. But just remember we will be here for moral support. Final step bleed the brake making sure there is not any air in the system. Great job. You are on your way to the Golden Wrench Award.