Drum Brake Restoration

Disassemble
Before we disassembled the shoes and emergency brake system, we took a digital photo just to remind us where everything fit. A Polaroid camera or a good shop manual will accomplish the same thing. Next with the two brake tools shown we removed the springs, shoes and all of the actuation levers and adjusters. The levers and adjusters were given a soak in the solvent tank. Next we sprayed the axle, wheel cylinder and backing plate with brake cleaner and wiped them off with shop rags. Any surface rust was ground off with the cordless drill and rotary wire brush. Be careful that you don't contact any of the rubber seals with the wire brush or the job will just get more complicated by replacing those seals.

Install
Next, we wiped all of the surfaces to be painted down with enamel reducer to clean off any grease or brake dust residue. We taped off the wheel cylinder and sprayed the backing plate with a rust preventative paint. Then we pulled the levers and adjusters out of the cleaning solvent and dried them off prior to re-assembly. The new anchor pins, retainers and springs were used to reinstall the old shoes after putting a dollop of grease on the backing plate where the edges of the shoes rub. A little grease was also used on the threads of the star adjusters and the new brake springs were carefully pried in place with the special brake tool (be sure to wear safety glasses for this operation). The final touch was to bead blast the outside portion of the brake drum to remove the ugly rust and give them a coat of cast-iron gray high-temp paint. The Buick drum brakes are heavily finned and look great when cleaned up.

Adjust
If your vehicle needed new wheel cylinders you'll need to bleed the brake hydraulic system now before you proceed with the brake adjustment procedure. After the fresh coat of cast iron gray paint is dry, just slide the drums over the studs and axle flange. Our Buick has automatic brake adjuster mechanisms so we simply assembled the brakes with the adjusters screwed all of the way in. Simply driving the car easily and applying the brakes several times will adjust the brakes.


A little known fact is that new brake shoes need to be "bedded in." This simple but important procedure requires a series of short hard stops from 30 mph. Let the brakes totally cool down (about 15 minutes), repeat the process and you should be good to go. Our total tab for this Saturday project was less than $50. Not bad when you see the results and know that your vehicle is one step closer to a total restoration.