Hi,

yes, I did it myself when changing wheels.

The problem was, the screws of the wheels wouldn't come loose easily, so I had to pull quite a lot at them (about maybe 200 Nm or more) with the handbrake engaged +++ to prevent the wheels from turning. The wheels came off alright, but since then the brake pedal and handbrake pulsate heavily on braking. I think I've been warping the drums.

Now, what?

Can those drums be "unwarped"? What about repeating the manoevre somehow, with me pulling at the wheel in the opposite direction? Or dissamble drums? Maybe there is anything inside which has been bend? Do I have to get new drums?

Zardo

to warp the drums they need to be exposed to extreme heat, and i mean so hot they glow red, such as when a shoe comes loose and jams but you drive home anyway (yes i've done that and it glowed red and even that only slightly warped it). you wont have warped them by simply removing the road wheel bolts. however forcing the wheel round hard with the handbrake on can damage the shoes and their mountings, but its more likey that they only need removing, inspecting and refitting correctly. i'd try that first.

in future cover the wheel bolt threads with copper grease, it makes getting them off much much easier next time.

Thank you I'll have a look

By the way (this is going to be a stupid question) in my manual there is a spot indicated - it's at the rear of the bravo - where you can put the jack so both rear wheels will come free with only one jack. It appears I'm unable to find it - the photo in the manual where this spot is indicated is quite dark and smallish, too. It says it's about 20 cm forward from the rear bumper somewhere in the middle. The last time I tried there was some cracking noise which came as a surprise to me so I finally didn't insist. So is the manual wrong and the only way would be to use the spots at the lateral side of the car?

The idea of all this is to get both rear wheels free in one time and pull the handbrake a bit in order to see which drum is affected.

so hm I got the car up using two jacks... the right drum seems to be more affected, but the left isn't cosher either

unfortunately I couldn't get the drum off. Now, the manual says, "unscrew the two bolts and clean the outside of the wheel bearing before taking the drum off"

Now the drum doesn't stick to the wheel bearing, I can turn it even pry it off 4 mm. But then there is some feeling as if some springs would hold it back. I loosend the screw of the handbrake until the linkage would fall of, but this didn't help it. It tried pushing the brake shoes back inserting a screw driver into the little prying hole - didn't help either. The drum just wouldn't come off it, I tried using some brute force using a wrench and placing it between the drum and its counterpart. Just made some scratches on it and a lot of rust of the drum came off, part of which fell into the drum.

So finally I gave up on it and remounted everything.
Now there was quite a resistance to the drum, it was difficult to turn the wheel even with the hand brake linkage loosened. So what the ..., I sprayed some rust solvent into the drum until it would turn smooth.

I think next week I'll drive to the garage and have the pair of drums, brake shoes, springs, brake shoe supports and self-adjusting units replaced.

EDIT: I just found the following on the internet:
"It may be necessary on some cars to back off the brake adjuster in order for the drum to be removed"

hm, is that the problem why the drum would not come off? As the adjuster is inside of the drum, how to back it off?

pull the plastic surround off that is around the handbrake lever, there's an adjustment nut, loosen it right off so the cable is slack. that'll free the drums. hopefully pulling on the drums before doing this hasnt caused any damage (bent springs or damaged friction material?).

you know a haynes manual saves time and money




as for jacking the rear up with one jack, why risk your life? my uncle died when his car fell on him. if you want the whole back end up in the air the minimum i'd expect is 2 trolley jacks and 2 axle stands, with a jack on each side and an axle stand near each jack in case one fails (yes they do sometimes fail) any less and you might as well drive with no seatbelt on and your eyes closed

>pull the plastic surround off that is around the handbrake lever, there's an >adjustment nut, loosen it right off so the cable is slack. that'll free the >drums. hopefully pulling on the drums before doing this hasnt caused any >damage (bent springs or damaged friction material?).

Jug, I did that ("I loosend the screw of the handbrake until the linkage would fall of") the cable was slack the drum would still not come off! Drum and brake shoes have never been changed on this car, they have been running 10 years doing some 145 000 km. The drum was also very rusty on the outside, the rust did increase the outside diameter of the drum considerably (rust actually needs more space than pure metal that's what makes it bigger). I could easily shave off rusty material 3 mm thick with my screwdriver. I wonder if on the inside there is rust, too - and if so, if that's what's holding the drum back. The brake shoes have probably eaten their way into the drum by now, forming a ridge so they run in some bigger diameter and when trying to take the drum out, it'll get stuck on the rusty part .

What to do now?

By the way, would I have to get the wheel bearing of to change the supporting plate which fixes the brake shoes?

14500km on the same shoes!!! oh dear, the adjusters must be at their limit and the shoe friction material would be all gone, meaning metal on metal when braking, which should have warped the drums, and scored the inside badly creating a ridge as you say. i'd take the full read brakes off a scrapyard car (dont forget rear handbrake cables) and use it all to replace yours, that avoids the need to take the old drum apart, and if the shoes really are that old it will all need replacing anyway due to the damage.

will I have to take the wheel bearing out for this?

would you change the hydraulic cylinder too?

yes you can remove the wheel bearing to get your old drums apart and then just replace the shoes and outer drums, leaving the back plates and cylinders in place (if the outer drum will pull off, assuming it isnt stuck in plce by the ridge, altohugh you could release the adjuster using a screwdriver to sort that problem).

but i'd rather remove both rear arms from a scrap car and replace the full lot, if the shoes really are that worn the heat created could have damaged the wheel cylinders, and why take the risk over a few quid. it wont really cost much extra if you take the full lot or just the outer drums from a scrap car. if your cylinders turn out to be ok and arent leaking or seized you can always keep them as spares. generally when the shoes get very worn the cylinder pistons can pop out, and once that happens you might as well replace them. its not worth the hassle taking the risk.

To do the job properly, replace with new parts. You want new adjuster arms, Drums, Shoes, Cylinders,fitting kit and replace the wheel bearings. I would also stick a new cable on too. To do it this way is piece of mind and job done correctly. Oh, dont overtighten the wheel bearings.

Andy.