03 Durnago

Having a tough time getting my rear drums off. Using the access hole, do I turn the adjuster lever up or down ... not sure if I'm tightening or loosening.

 

Nevermind, got it...

For any other dummies like me... viewed from behind the vehicle, should be turned clockwise. Or... just give the shoulder of the drum a solid hit with a hammer.

 

yea you shouldnt have to adjust the shoes to get the drum off, to put new pads on you will have to open it up(loosen the pads), but not to get the drums off

 

i agree with shrpshtr325 you shouldn't have to loosen the brakes to get them off if i were you i would replace the rear brakeline (the flex line, from the top of the rear to the middle brake line) i had a similar issue and that solved it after all the money i spent for stuff i didn't need.

 

Depends on the grove that is worn into the drum from the brake pads. Brake shoes do not rub on the entire surface of the drum. There is a slight area on the inner and outer surface that is not worn.

The older the drums the more grove that should be worn into the drum. There should also be a small lip on the outer most portion of the drum because the shoes don't rub there on normal conditions. This area can have a little corrosion as well creating a lip, also this can cause a very large lip to form.

It is a well known thing that this lip will be present on mostly all drums. Now if the shoes have adjusted themselves far enough into this grove then at rest they might be counter sunk in this grove, and thus you go to remove the drum and after the drum is broke free of the axle (corrosion) the shoes cannot sink down close enough to allow the drum to be removed because of the lip that has formed. The shoes hold the drum on.

Now you would be able to move the drum slightly back and forth off the axle but they just wont come off because this lip is holding them on. At this point you have to remove the access window plug from the back side dust cover and use a brake adjustment tool to back off the adjustment. This will allow the brake shoes to recied far enough that they will clear the lip that was formed.

If this happens you should get the drums turned to remove the lips on both sides or simply replace them. I would also guess that if the lip isn't bad enough a little sand paper and elbow grease could take care of it as well.

Back yard mechanics 101:

Now if this happens you might be able to pull the drum off far enough that the lip in on top of the shoes and you can get in the truck and press the E-brake down VERY hard and release it. This will crush some of the corrosion on the lip that has formed allowing you just enough space you can slide the drum off the shoes without adjusting them back.

Just had this happen last week on my wife's Taurus and there is only 67k miles on it.



Here you can see the lip starting to form on the outer most surface of this hub/drum combo. It is black in color. Notice the very most inside lip as well. And you can also see the ware grove in the center from the shoes.

 

General the star wheel will only turn one direction ( tightening ) because of the self adjusting lever.
This is what the service manual has on it.

If drum is difficult to remove,
remove rear plug from access hole in support plate.
Back-off self adjusting by inserting a thin screw-
driver into access hole and push lever away from
adjuster screw star wheel. Then insert an adjuster
tool into brake adjusting hole rotate adjuster star
wheel to retract brake shoes.