Yesterday afternoon when we left home and headed into town I noticed dull rubbing and clunking noise from the rear passenger side every time I braked. After about twenty minutes the noise had gone.

This afternoon was jacking the car up so that I could tighten my power steering belt, but I forgot to apply the parking brake and chock the rear wheels. When I did pull in the parking brake, the level went to nearly 7 clicks, almost pointing to the roof lol!! Normally 3 or 4 clicks was enough.

Does it sound like my shoes are shot or the shoes springs may have corroded and busted up?

I hate doing shoes because every car I`ve done them on, the drums have completely siezed on. If they are, what tool can I use to get in through the little hole to the adjuster? Is this adjuster like a wheel of some kind?

Thanks.

Ps. I have a 96 2.4 Strat.

 

you don't need to adjust the wheel as they are automatic since the '60's. just step on the brake pedal 3-5 times (panic stop hard). this should tighten up the shoes to the drum. norm travel for the p-brake lever should be 5-7 clicks on US spec cars with rear drums. you can adjust the p-brake lever cable by removing the center consol around the lever. it' pretty simple once you get the console out.

i'd still recomend taking a look at the brake shoes to find out what the noise was. just remember to take the auto adjuster down to it's lowest setting, make getting the drum on a heck of alot easier to get on, i know...lol.

hope this helps.

 

No I didn`t mean adjusting that way, I was talking about if the drum is stuck because the shoes are tight up against it. There`s an access hole in the back where you can poke a tool through to slacken off the shoes so the drum will come off easier? A screwdriver would work to spin the adjuster wheel?

Something has definately gone in one or both of the drums. The noise sounded like something working loose, then it stopped. I`m guessing whatever was working loose came loose when the noise stopped. Suddenly now my parking brake travels almost at a right angle to the roof lol!!!

Either the shoes have fell apart or a spring may have rusted and broke causing the assy to come apart inside. Anyways, going to jack it up tomorrow and take the drum off. Could speculate forever - better look first!!!!

I also noticed my brake pedal is travelling a little closer to the floor since this happened. There is nothing leaking so I`m guessing shoes or assy have gone.

Shoes are pretty easy to change on these cars? Haven`t done any for a long time.

 

sorry, thought you just wanted to snug up the brake lever so it wouldn't have to travel so much for engagment.

the slot should be 12 o'clock on the dust shield. never tried doing that, just suffered through drum removal. you should be able to slip a small screwdriver in, not sure which way to turn it.

it's just a norm drum brake set-up, they still haven't changed (still just as much fun).

let us know what you find.

 

Well, after a bit of work with a rubber mallet and flat head screwdriver I got the suspect drum off. Was expecting everything to fall apart when I removed the drum, but apart from the usual dust it wasn`t that bad. No springs had broken, the leading shoe looked in good shape, the trailing shoe was worn in a tapered fashion(good at top, worn toward bottom). The trailing shoe did not want to sit on the piston (wheel cylinder) properly, it just sits off off it. Maybe that`s why the shoe was worn in a taper fashion because the bottom was only being applied to the drum but not the top?

Still doesn`t really explain the noise I had and the sudden high e-brake travel. Perhaps my hearing is going bad and it was the other wheel. Too cold now, I might tackle the other drum when it warms up a little.

I don`t think a new set of drums and shoes would hurt the vehicle, but I`m on a budget right now! Aren`t we all!!!

 

A few days after putting the drum back on, I can hear a "whirring" sound that vanishes when I depress the brake pedal. It is coming from the same wheel. Sounds to me like something is rubbing on the drum, perhaps a shoe is crooked and one part is catching the shoe but it straightens when the pedal is depressed?