Easy How to...Drum Brakes

Dude.. I would fly you out to San Diego if you could do my rear breaks...
The other day I bought the front and rear pads. Started with the front. Noticed the dust boot on the piston was back so ended up rebuilding the calapers and putting all new bearings in because I had the rotor off getting it turned..

Then I moved to the rear... I took one tire off and got the drum off with out having to adjust the screw.. Looked at all the springs and the LACK of detail the lame ass chilton book gives you. Got it half way appart befire I thought if I got it any more appart I would never get it back together..

Now when I try to stop it seems the front breaks are doing all the work.
Tried to adjust the scrwe got the rear breaks and still feels funny..

Did you use a special tool to help with the springs?

I'm a shadetree wannabe newb when it comes to repairs and mechanics. I have both, a Haynes and a Chilton's, and when you're a newb whose never had anyone teach you any auto mechanic skills before, those two manuals leave alot to be desired. When I removed and re-installed the tranny for the first time, I just wanted to shoot the authors of those two publications. Their instructions were pathetic - "remove such and such." Great, but HOW do I remove such and such? Instead of good, color pics, they give you a few black and white pics, or a diagram, and most of the time the diagram has the caption (other models similar - yeah, right).

I did the front brakes and wheel bearings for the first time also trying to use both manuals. Again, they sucked. I ended up using the great tech articles and color pics found in this tech folder and in other members' own webpages - MUCH, MUCH more detailed and explanatory, usually with helpful tips on what kind of tools were used and HOW to use the tool to "remove such and such".

Don't get me wrong, the manuals help alot, but for dumba$$es like me who've never done stuff like this before, I use them more as supplemental guides, while I try to find better sources that explain with more detail and better, more up-close pics on how to do the task at hand. I'd like to get my hands on the factory service manuals for the specific year and model Broncos I own, but rather than pay $100 for each one, I continue to rely more on this site and others' webpages and use the Haynes and Chiltons as supplemental guides.

Just my .02

Big Mike C. said:

did you torque the lock rings to the right torque then back it off a skosh? ...both of them? Pull the hubs back off and make sure that they are all the way up seated, then make sure everything is at the right torque.

Click to expand...

Yep, torqued the inner lockring to 50 or so, then backed it off, then re-torqued to about 40-45 or so. Had to do it twice because one of the previous owners (or his mechanic) put both inner lockrings on one side and both outer lockrings on the other side - I was wondering why none of the lockrings on the passenger side didn't have the little pin in it.

Unfortunately, my torque wrench won't go up to 150 lbs., nor will the weak muscles in my arm, so I just torqued the outer lockring as much as I could while trying to keep that dang hub socket from slipping. I don't think the Warn manual hubs will go on if they're not torqued all the way, either, but they went on smoothly and spin freely by hand, unlike the ones on my 93 which require superstrong fingers to move the dial (guess I'll have to check the lockrings on that one). But who knows, maybe it's something else that keeps them from dialing easily?