parking brake assistance

[Optikalillushun]

ok, im about to dive into the drum brakes on my truck. i have a parking brake hardware kit and it comes with the cable that runs from the arm to the shoe.

i dont know how to get the pin holding the cable out to replace the cable (mine is fraying). if i cant remove it, is there a replacement available?

 

[Optikalillushun]

i got it, after letting it soak for 1/2 hr in PB blaster and beatin the **** outta the pin i got it apart.

 

[BigRigTech]

BFH, some heat and lots of profanity usually works for me....

 

[sootman73]

when i did my drums it took all that i had for about 2 hours just to get the pass drum off. brake was released as it spun free. rust built up between the hub and drum. lots of heating, pb, and hammerin. again and again. i covered all the rusted spots with antiseize before i put it back together. dont wanna have that problem ever again. replaced everything inside except the ebrake cable and arm. all springs and the wheel cylinders as well as the driver side hub seal.

this can't be done without profanity

 

[Optikalillushun]

ok, speaking of the springs...how the hell did u guys get the springs from the brake shoes onto the anchor pins? me and my dad tried for over an hr on and off with no luck. either the shoe kept falling off, the spring slipped or the anchor pin kept spinning around on us.

good news is a wire brushed everything, painted it and used some goopity goop to keep it from rusting again, hopefully.

 

[fsr7]

When I did them on my 93, the driver side drum was so worn that it actually through out a chunk of the friction surface inside the drum... So I had a big hole in the drum. Since it was that thin, there was like a .5" lip on the inside of the drum that would catch on the shoes when you tried to beat it off - I had to spin the hole to where the wheel cylinder adjustment was and back it off a tiny bit at a time until the shoes compressed enough to get the *#&#%(# drum off. Everything had to be replaced in those, as well... as far as the spring onto the pins, I think I was able to put the eyelet of the spring around the body of a screwdriver, put the tip of the screwdriver on the other side of the pin, and pry on it... it makes a violent snap into place.

 

[sootman73]

its hard to remember right now what the thing looks like. i'd have to find my pics in the morning and then i'd remember right away. make sure to set up the shoes and springs before putting them on the truck. just make sure you put the pins in the right place. we got it wrong 3 times before we got it right. we didn't use any specialty brake tools( i love fords for that as my friend did his gm ones right after) just screw drivers and vice grips. we had three people pryin on it at one time. one to hold the shoes on the drum, one to aim the spring loop onto the pin and the third to pull the spring. it was a lot of close contact(a little uncomfortable) and weird bending. its one way to get it done!

 

[Andylad13]

ok, speaking of the springs...how the hell did u guys get the springs from the brake shoes onto the anchor pins? me and my dad tried for over an hr on and off with no luck. either the shoe kept falling off, the spring slipped or the anchor pin kept spinning around on us.QUOTE]

its hard, but possible. when i was doing mine, i was actually able to do this exact thing all by my lonesome and in 5 mins each side was done. basically, if you dont have that small spring at the correct angle or correct side, its not going to work.
i havnt done it in a few months also so i cant really help out more than that.
however its always a good idea to take a cell phone pic of the assembly before you start taking parts off.

 

[Optikalillushun]

i left the other side together for reference. gunna give it a shot again today, this time it will work :-D

 

[Compu Doc]

ok, speaking of the springs...how the hell did u guys get the springs from the brake shoes onto the anchor pins? me and my dad tried for over an hr on and off with no luck. either the shoe kept falling off, the spring slipped or the anchor pin kept spinning around on us.

good news is a wire brushed everything, painted it and used some goopity goop to keep it from rusting again, hopefully.

What you could do is take a welders vise grip or a C clamp and secure the new shoe to the backing plate before putting the spring on. Then take the spring with a pair of needle nose vise grips and stretch it a bit enough to have the spring come past the clip. At that point rotate the clip behind the backing plate to be in front of the spring and slowly release the spring into the clip.

That's the way I have to do mine. Of course I could not figure it out either until Mark AKA warwagon helped me out with it.

Your setup may also be like mine and that is there is a small nut in back of the backing plate up above the wheel cylinder. If you take that nut off if you have it you should be able to pull the parking brake arm straight out off the backing plate to make your install a lot easier. The above method that I described is if you can't get the parking brake arm off the backing plate as the way it was with mine on the drivers side.

 

[Optikalillushun]

heh, went down and tried it on a fresh start. got one pair of vice grips to hold the anchor, one pair on the spring and used my knee to push the vice grips holding the spring so it bent enough to latch onto the anchor pin, 10 seconds.

 

[BigRigTech]

I don't find the springs hard at all. I push in on the spring with vice grips and I spin the pin into place with my finger on the backside of the backing plate. Piece of cake.

 

[Optikalillushun]

everythng was covered with brake fluid yesterday, even after i cleaned up it was still slimey, part of my problem.