Re: brake shoe spring tool, and other brake advice


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Posted by David Sherman on May 17, 1998 at 16:15:05:

In Reply to: brake shoe spring tool posted by Jason on May 17, 1998 at 11:02:26:

Jason,
I just rebuilt all the wheel cylinders on my M37,
and I found that it was pretty easy to get the spring
off simply by prying and pulling it out with a screwdriver.
You can also use a beefy screwdriver or bar to pry the brake
shoe back out of the wheel cylinder and then let it
come forward and release the spring. Either wa, make sure
that you open the bleed valve and press the shoes
together by hand (squeezing brake fluid out) so as to relieve
as much spring tension as possible. It is a husky spring
and definitely can't be pulled out with pliers unless you
have the hands and arms of a gorilla.

Putting it back in, you will find, is trickier than taking it
out. I found an old phillips screwdriver which fit in the
hole in the shoe and still left room for the hooked
end of the spring to slide along the screwdriver shaft and
into the hole. I hooked the spring on the screwdriver shaft,
put the tip of the screwdriver into the hole, and used the
screwdriver as a lever to stretch the spring. Holding it in
that position, I used a large flat-bladed screwdriver to
push the spring hook down along the philips screwdriver. The
tricky part was pushing the hook into the hole, while sliding
it along the phillips. It actually worked easily once I'd
figured out the system. Do keep your hands and face out of
the way in case the spring slips loose.

While you have the shoes loose, make sure the adjuster nuts
can be loosened AND that the adjusters can be turned. I had
some mighty rusty ones which I eventually had to heat with a
propane torch to get them to budge. Then I took them all apart
and greased them up so they wouldn't get rusty soon. You'll have
to ask someone else how to adjust the brakes. I just adjusted
each shoe until it barely dragged on the drum and then backed
off a hair. They seem to work fine.

A good way to bleed the brakes is to get a long piece of 1/4" clear
plastic tubing and a short piece of rubber tubing which will fit
over the plastic tube and over the bleed valve. Hook the clear tube
to the bleed valve via the rubber tube. Fill up the master cylinder
reservoir and start pumping the pedal slowly, adding fluid as needed.
Watch the fluid as it comes up the clear tube. If it looks murky or
"off" in any way, pump it out onto some weeds. Once it looks nice and
clear, stick the end of the tube in the master cylinder reservoir.
Now you can pump away as long as you want without having to refil the
reservoir or have somebody work the bleed valve, or collect the fluid
in a jar. Keep your eye on the clear tube, watching for bubbles and
pump until you don't see any more. This system works well for vehicles
whose brakes are hard to bleed due to places in the lines where bubbles
get stuck. Using the clear tube, you can pump hard and long and drive
all the bubbles out.



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