aspire drum brakes

[warlocke]

hey yall i need to check my rear brakes on my aspire but ive never messed with drums, what tips would yall reccomend, also what should i look for. i have no clue on drums, disks im fine with lol. thanks

[Tim]

Drum brakes last a long time and are virtually maintenance free. I've never had to replace them in any Festiva I've owned.

Usually I just see what shape the inside of the drums are in (do they need resurfacing/worn out/etc), see how thick the material on the shoes is, check and repack the bearings, and then put it all back together and drive away.

Regards,

Tim

[therris]

Make sure to do one at a time, as the springs and what not can be complicated when your trying to put it back on (what goes in front of what and so on). Good to do one and leave the other alone as a guide to how to put it back on, then do the other.

[warlocke]

how hard is it to pull the rear bearings?

[Safety Guy]

Not hard at all. It takes a bit of practice to tighten them up right upon reinstallation though. Nothing major.

Before I did my latest brake jobs on Lux's Aspire setup and my Dad's Astro van, I was kinda afraid of drum brakes with all those funky springs and things. After a couple jobs I am not afraid anymore!

If you have at least a Haynes manual you'll be set.

As for "maintenance free," perhaps on most. However, when I did Lux's rear brakes, one side was pristine and the other was corroded to hades and back. I had to use new wheel cylinders, hardware and shoes and did both sides to keep things matched. It was a shame to forgo that one pristine side stuff, though I did save the good parts as spares.

Don't be afraid. Just do it! One side at a time, especially if you have no manual to go by.

Karl

[warlocke]

how long can i expect this job to take if i do do it. i looked in the manual at this for like the 6th time and i still dont feel comfortable. but its says nothing about unhooking any lines or anything, which i find weird, i hope theres acutal brakes back there LOL

i dont know when i will be able to do it but will be soon,

and with the price of rear bearings would it be better to replace them, or would i have to do the races and crap to?

sorry if these sound stupid but ive never messed with drums or bearings.

[skeeters_keeper]

its really easy... just remember pass side is reverse threaded! don't strip your spindle off... actually i seem to recall that some aspires wern't reverse threaded? i know my festy and my aspire pass sides are both reverse threaded... so check before tugging to hard!

when you unbolt the spindle nut, the drum/bearings will come out. i'd just clean, inspect, and re-pack the bearings. unless their making noise or look funy you prolly don't need to replace them. after the dums off its just a couple of springs/pins that hold the shoes on. check their thinckness, replace if necesary. i've never had a hard time getting them back together right, if you think you will just snap a pic so that you can tell which springs go where... it'll make sense once you get the drums off.
Since its your first time working on your brakes it may talk 1/2hr-1hr, i could prolly do both sides in 15min-1/2hr since i've done them twice... its really not bad at all.

you don't need to unhook any lines or anything unless your replacing the brake cylinders, which unless their leaking fluid you probobly don't need to do.

[miami man]

i always keep a spare drum from the junkyard for that in case i have a bad one but the parts store are cheap also but make sure they have one in stock so in case if needed you will have one. and never press on the brake peddel while the drum is off because you can blow a wheel cylnder.

[miami man]

i went to a junkyard once and took off the rear nut from a festiva by hand and shook my head because the rear wheel was about to fall off when driving.

[skeeters_keeper]

Heres a pic from doing mine:



all you need to do just to replace the shoes is
(1) remove the two retaining pins/springs by twisting them to line up w/ the corresponding slots (obvious when you see it)
(2) the two shoes will "fold" in towards the middle allowing you to remove the 3 springs
put the new ones in exactly in revers of how you installed them... but lube the 4 areas w/ a SMALL amount of anit-seize or similar where the pads rub against the backing plate. you can see the shiny silver spot in the upper right green spot, thats the anti-seize. it will be obvious when you take it apart.

if you decide to re-build the cylinder as well, thats cheap and easy too...

hope that helps a bit...

[warlocke]

wow thats real helpful as it dont look as complicated as i thought, will deff use that when i do this. thanks man

[miami man]

years ago i did one on my chevy truck but does aspire or festiva have the wheel adjusters meaning a slot to use a brake spoon?

[Safety Guy]

Three hands are a big help!

Karl

[25Horseplay]

If you use brake tools the job is really easy!

[chatmaster]

Thanks for the info skeeters_keeper i have to do the rears on my WA festiva soon. Did you put anything over the cylinder while you had the shoes out? I've been told you should use a special clamp to hold the piston together. Also is there any adjustment on the drum because again i have never done drum brakes, because the piston once the new pads are in would need to travel less distance to apply the brakes and if it was adjusted when my old worn out pads were in you wouldn't be able to fit the hub back on.
quick question about bleeding the brakes on a festiva, how do i bleed them on the rears?
thanks