Hello All,

Just bought a 2002 Dakota SXT 4X4 a couple of weeks ago. It had 160K on it, but is in good shape for the most part. However, all the brakes were leaking. I replaced the fronts with ease. All my cars have always had 4 wheel disk, so this is the first time I am working on Brake shoes/Drums.

I was able to get the drums off with a little bit of banging and it was very easy to change the wheel cylinders. However, I am having a little bit of trouble putting the new shoes/springs back on. I have the Chilton's manual, but the pictures are so small and in black and white that it's hard to tell how some of the parts are supposed to be put on.

I was wondering if anyone had an DIY install guide for this, a really good diagram or big colorful pictures so I have a good frame of reference. I understand the general jist of it, but I want to make sure that I put the parts back on correctly.

I did some searching around (here and google) but didn't find any good pictures or diagrams.

Thanks for your time!
Matt-

 

did you take the brakes off both side at once? usually if you do one side at a time you can always use the other side as a reference.
this is for a first gen dodge ram but it might help you understand drum brakes.

 

Luckily, I did not remove the shoes from one side. However, it is still kind of hard to see everything and exactly how it goes. I sprayed the hell out of it with Brake Parts Cleaner, but it's still rusty and grimy.

Thanks for the diagram! I think this should help. That, along with the other side and the Chilton's Manual, I think I have a better idea of where everything goes.

 

I just wanted to put a really good link in here for any future searches. I believe this guide was for a 1st Gen, but it is the exact same for the 2nd gen. This was really, really helpful with pictures and some tips.

Let me know if anyone has a future problems with their install.

Thanks

http://www.handymanlyness.com/archiv...96_Dakota.html

 

Great link, thanks very much !
It's been years since doing brake work, but am soon to tackle it on my '02 SXT.