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Not the repair I'd planned
Feb. 11th, 2009 09:07 pmI drove to work today so I could go over to Harbor Freight and get some serious destruction going on. I've had it with the rounded off nuts keeping me from finishing the work on the Taurus, they're coming off even if it means I have to tear the studs out. So I bought an air chisel and a die grinder for good measure. These are really cheap tools over there, so the grinder at $12 was cheaper than driving over there again, at least if my time is worth anything.
However, on the way home from work, the rear brakes on the van started making bad noises. So I wound up going home, grabbing the 3rd car, driving to Murrays and getting new shoes for the back of the van. I wound up doing the rears, which are drum brakes (which I don't like) in the dark, in the rain. I found that the hand brake mechanism on the right side was very stiff, and probably wasn't working very well. That also means that the adjuster on that side wasn't really working, since setting and releasing the hand brake is what drives the adjuster.
I broke a lot of scale off the handbrake lever on that side, and slathered it with anti-seize gunk, so hopefully things will stay smooth, though I don't know if the handbrake cable is free. The shoes were a little more worn on that side.
Once I got the parts, the job took about 75 minutes, though of course I spent a few minutes of that looking for tools. Would have been faster and less of a pain if it were on a dry sunny day.
The adjuster was working just fine on the left, which of course meant I had to back it off to get the drum off. This is my least favorite part of working on drum brakes. Luckily, last time I had them apart I took a picture and I was able to look at that to remember where the release was and what direction to turn the star wheel. I had to bend an old bicycle spoke to get to the release with the star wheel tool in there.
When I took it out for a short test drive, they felt a lot better than they have in months.
It's supposed to be getting cold again soon, so I may not get to the Taurus again for a while.
Data: New brake shoes on the back of the Windstar @ 104500 miles
However, on the way home from work, the rear brakes on the van started making bad noises. So I wound up going home, grabbing the 3rd car, driving to Murrays and getting new shoes for the back of the van. I wound up doing the rears, which are drum brakes (which I don't like) in the dark, in the rain. I found that the hand brake mechanism on the right side was very stiff, and probably wasn't working very well. That also means that the adjuster on that side wasn't really working, since setting and releasing the hand brake is what drives the adjuster.
I broke a lot of scale off the handbrake lever on that side, and slathered it with anti-seize gunk, so hopefully things will stay smooth, though I don't know if the handbrake cable is free. The shoes were a little more worn on that side.
Once I got the parts, the job took about 75 minutes, though of course I spent a few minutes of that looking for tools. Would have been faster and less of a pain if it were on a dry sunny day.
The adjuster was working just fine on the left, which of course meant I had to back it off to get the drum off. This is my least favorite part of working on drum brakes. Luckily, last time I had them apart I took a picture and I was able to look at that to remember where the release was and what direction to turn the star wheel. I had to bend an old bicycle spoke to get to the release with the star wheel tool in there.
When I took it out for a short test drive, they felt a lot better than they have in months.
It's supposed to be getting cold again soon, so I may not get to the Taurus again for a while.
Data: New brake shoes on the back of the Windstar @ 104500 miles
