Drum Brakes

[VetteOwner]

well ive got a plethora of different brakes to my disposal:

1929 model AA brakes 4 wheel drum mechanical linkages( front shoes are 1.5"wide rears are 4" wide about 12" diameter drum on front 14" diameter on rear),

1960 VW ghia, 4 wheel drum hydrolic, stops on a dime dont notice brake fade

1980 chevette, front solid disc (non vented) rear drum, stops great when the ****ing master cyl wants to cooperate, dont notice brake fade.

1995 s10 vented disc front drum rear, fronts lock up bad on hard stops have noticed brake fade with it before hauling 1000# of whiterock in the bed, not a fun time

2002 s10 blazer, 4 wheel vented disc, responsiveness like 4 wheel drum but very problematic rear discs. and stupid parking brake shoes on the inside of the rotor that you have to adjust by taking the rotor off and turning a star wheel a little bit till it works...

so all in all id want 4 wheel drum, so much easier. once youve messed with as much brakes as i have drums are cake if ya got the right techniques.

my friends 1975 maverick has 4 wheel drum, it stops great too

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

1995 s10 vented disc front drum rear, fronts lock up bad on hard stops have noticed brake fade with it before hauling 1000# of whiterock in the bed, not a fun time

2002 s10 blazer, 4 wheel vented disc, responsiveness like 4 wheel drum but very problematic rear discs. and stupid parking brake shoes on the inside of the rotor that you have to adjust by taking the rotor off and turning a star wheel a little bit till it works...

The 4 cylinder base model S10 wasn't made for regular heavy use; I suspect that higher trim levels have better brakes.

Those parking brake shoes can be adjusted? I thought they just had to be replaced. I have to look that up, my 2002 GMC Sierra has 4 wheel discs with the mini-drum in the rotor for the parking brake and my parking brake has been my biggest complain with the truck...for the whole 200,000 miles I've had it, the parking brake has only worked when the truck was new and once after having a mechanic do a comprehensive brake service that probably included all new parking brake stuff and new rotors all around.

...hah! I just looked it up in the service manual. I'll have to try that.

[VetteOwner]

yea ive been told its adjustable...i think its a dumb design tho... id rather have the whole 8" drum doing the holding not a small 4 inch nub...

from what i remember from highschool auto class a parking brake should be able to stop the car decently quick and lock up the wheels from 30 mph well my s10's starting to slip, need to adjust the cable screw but behold GM and thier stupid designs arent making it easy.

the blazers doesnt work at all with the pedal to the floor

[add|ct]

My dad's 2001 S10's rear brake pads aren't down to the rivets yet; 85,000 miles or so on the vehicle with a good amount of towing. In fact, I don't know if the brakes have ever been serviced, disc rotors or pads.

[VetteOwner]

i doubt my s10's drums have ever been serviced, i took off the drums around 50 K ago and still look good(has 168K on it now)

i havent had to change anything brake wise pads rotors etc in the almost 70K ive owned it...im sure the rear shoes are origional...

[Jay2TheRescue]

I'd check the rear adjusters on those rear drums then. They're probably siezed.

[VetteOwner]

seems to stop fine, BUT you could be right due to the parking brake failing...

last time tho i needed a huge gear puller a cut off torch to heat the drum up red hot and a sledge hammer to get the passenger drum off...me thinks the extreme small tolerance on the center drum hole and the extreme large diameter tolerance for the axle are meeting

[IndyFetch]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

seems to stop fine, BUT you could be right due to the parking brake failing...

last time tho i needed a huge gear puller a cut off torch to heat the drum up red hot and a sledge hammer to get the passenger drum off...me thinks the extreme small tolerance on the center drum hole and the extreme large diameter tolerance for the axle are meeting

My dad had the same problem on his '92 Sonoma. He couldn't get the drum off once the rears wore out. He finally said screw it and drove it without rear brakes b/c he was too lazy to change them. I drove it a few times, and you would have to mash the brake pedal down all the say to keep it stopped. Very worrisome.

[theholycow]

Getting my drum off recently to inspect my brakes was a huge pain too. Lots of hammering, lots of prying. I was eventually surprised when PB Blaster at the center hole helped.

If I had rear brakes not working after 168,000 miles and the drums just wouldn't come off, I'd consider it worth the cost of paying someone to do it, or worth the cost of replacing the drums after cutting through them (ok, that includes the cost of a bunch of cutoff wheels too - would an angle grinder with thin cutoff wheels do the job?).

[trollbait]

There should be a way of retracting the shoes back from the drum. It's pretty straight forward on a Ranger. Pop off the plug on the back of the brake, lift the ratcheting lever off the adjustment screw with a screwdriver, and turn the screw with a second with another.
I couldn't figure out how to do it on the HHR, and it might require a special tool.