Rear brake replace, '94 Corolla. Help

Hello:

I'm finishing a replacement of rear brake hoses, cylinders, shoes and drums
on my '94 Corolla. I can't seem to get the drums on now without a lot of
force. I don't want to keep banging them on and cause damage to the shoes
or the wheel studs or the drums. It looks like the shoes are on correctly
(on the anchor and in the cylinder) and the adjuster is seated at it's
lowest point, parking brake is off. The drums go over the shoes about 1/3
of the way with some banging and then stop. The Toyota manual says put the
drum on and work the parking brake handle and then take the drum off and
measure the clearance between drum and shoes and then put it back on and
bleed the system. I can't do that at this point. I could use some help and
it would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Bill

Sorry for the double post. please refer to the first one.

Bill wrote:
> Hello:
>
> I'm finishing a replacement of rear brake hoses, cylinders, shoes and drums
> on my '94 Corolla. I can't seem to get the drums on now without a lot of
> force. I don't want to keep banging them on and cause damage to the shoes
> or the wheel studs or the drums. It looks like the shoes are on correctly
> (on the anchor and in the cylinder) and the adjuster is seated at it's
> lowest point, parking brake is off. The drums go over the shoes about 1/3
> of the way with some banging and then stop. The Toyota manual says put the
> drum on and work the parking brake handle and then take the drum off and
> measure the clearance between drum and shoes and then put it back on and
> bleed the system. I can't do that at this point. I could use some help and
> it would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Bill

Make sure you have the star adjuster lever laying over the star wheel,
not propping the adjuster assembly apart. This is 1000 times easier to
show than explain.

Make sure the parking brake strut is seated correctly in the parking
brake lever slot and both shoe slots.

Make sure you have the correct shoes and drums. The wrong parts have
been known to be handed to unsuspecting customers in the past, causing
spicy and unnecessary cursing. I hope you have the old parts to
compare them with if this is the case.

Toyota MDT in MO

"Comboverfish" > wrote in
ups.com:

>
>
> Bill wrote:
>> Hello:
>>
>> I'm finishing a replacement of rear brake hoses, cylinders, shoes and
>> drums on my '94 Corolla. I can't seem to get the drums on now without
>> a lot of force. I don't want to keep banging them on and cause damage
>> to the shoes or the wheel studs or the drums. It looks like the shoes
>> are on correctly (on the anchor and in the cylinder) and the adjuster
>> is seated at it's lowest point, parking brake is off. The drums go
>> over the shoes about 1/3 of the way with some banging and then stop.
>> The Toyota manual says put the drum on and work the parking brake
>> handle and then take the drum off and measure the clearance between
>> drum and shoes and then put it back on and bleed the system. I can't
>> do that at this point. I could use some help and it would be
>> appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Bill
>
> Make sure you have the star adjuster lever laying over the star wheel,
> not propping the adjuster assembly apart. This is 1000 times easier
> to show than explain.
I will check this.

> Make sure the parking brake strut is seated correctly in the parking
> brake lever slot and both shoe slots.
Can we clarify this? The strut is the parking brake cable right? I saw only
one slot that the cable and its end stopper would go into on the rear shoe.

> Make sure you have the correct shoes and drums. The wrong parts have
> been known to be handed to unsuspecting customers in the past, causing
> spicy and unnecessary cursing. I hope you have the old parts to
> compare them with if this is the case.
> Toyota MDT in MO
Shoes looked the same, I will compare drums.

Bill wrote:

> Can we clarify this? The strut is the parking brake cable right? I saw only
> one slot that the cable and its end stopper would go into on the rear shoe.

No, the strut is the strut. The cable has it's own name (cable)

Parking brake strut: The horizontal metal piece that has a rectangular
coil spring on it and goes between both shoes -- it is moved by the
parking brake actuator lever (which pivots on the rearmost shoe)

Toyota MDT in MO

Bill wrote:

> > Make sure the parking brake strut is seated correctly in the parking
> > brake lever slot and both shoe slots.

> Can we clarify this? The strut is the parking brake cable right? I saw only
> one slot that the cable and its end stopper would go into on the rear shoe.

I used the wrong term when my mind was thinking of the standard bendix
brake setup. I meant to type "adjuster assembly", which acts as a
strut in addition to an adjuster. Each end of it has notches which
must be engaged in the parking brake lever and bothe shoes.

Operation of parking brake is: Driver's hand lever > cable > parking
brake lever > adjuster > front brake shoe > drum.

Toyota MDT in MO

"Comboverfish" > wrote in
ups.com:

>
>
> Bill wrote:
>> Hello:
>>
>> I'm finishing a replacement of rear brake hoses, cylinders, shoes and
>> drums on my '94 Corolla. I can't seem to get the drums on now without
>> a lot of force. I don't want to keep banging them on and cause damage
>> to the shoes or the wheel studs or the drums. It looks like the shoes
>> are on correctly (on the anchor and in the cylinder) and the adjuster
>> is seated at it's lowest point, parking brake is off. The drums go
>> over the shoes about 1/3 of the way with some banging and then stop.
>> The Toyota manual says put the drum on and work the parking brake
>> handle and then take the drum off and measure the clearance between
>> drum and shoes and then put it back on and bleed the system. I can't
>> do that at this point. I could use some help and it would be
>> appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Bill
>
> Make sure you have the star adjuster lever laying over the star wheel,
> not propping the adjuster assembly apart. This is 1000 times easier
> to show than explain.
>
> Make sure the parking brake strut is seated correctly in the parking
> brake lever slot and both shoe slots.
>
> Make sure you have the correct shoes and drums. The wrong parts have
> been known to be handed to unsuspecting customers in the past, causing
> spicy and unnecessary cursing. I hope you have the old parts to
> compare them with if this is the case.
>
> Toyota MDT in MO
>

I got the drums on finally. No Banging.

1) I had the adjusting lever stuck against the star wheel which wouldn't
let the adjuster set properly.
2 ) I did not have a proper tool to get the return spring on . A long
nose vise-grip locking pliers from Lowes helped with that.

Many thanks to those who gave suggestions you really helped me out of a
jam. The people that share their knowledge help to make the Internet a
great place.

Bill wrote:


> 1) I had the adjusting lever stuck against the star wheel
> which wouldn't let the adjuster set properly.
>
> 2) I did not have a proper tool to get the return spring
> on . A long nose vise-grip locking pliers from Lowes
> helped with that.

Car parts stores have a cheap tool for removing and installing those
coil springs over their posts. It looks like a screwdriver with a 1"
cylindrical assembly at the tip, and on a different type of car I found
that it worked a lot better than Vise-Grips and greatly reduced the
risk of blindness from a spring slipping loose and flying off. I
consider that an advantage.

I hope that your Lowe's is a lot better than the ones in Phoenix, where
it takes forever to get help, even when the store isn't busy and after
someone's been paged, but when somebody finally does arrive, he or she
will be clueless. Fortunately there's a Home Depot a few hundred feet
away that's a lot better, almost as good as real hardware stores.