Technical rear brakes fiat 500d

[handy andy]

i have just fitted new rear wheel cylinders to my fiat 500 d
have refitted the shoes but find i cannot refit the brake drum
have disconnected the handbrake cable and cleaned the drum
also checked and all the shoes are correctly located
anyone any ideas please
much appreciated
andy davies
LINCOLN

 

[bugsymike]

Are yours the ones with the self adjuster consisting of a spring and friction pads on the brake shoe, that locate on a pin in the back plate?
If so and the handbrake mechanism doesn't foul it then you should be able to gentle lever the shoes inwards towards the wheel cylinder overcoming the friction self adjuster.
There are plenty of 500 Forum members here who can be more exact than me, as the last one I owned was in 1978.

 

[the hobbler]

Are yours the ones with the self adjuster consisting of a spring and friction pads on the brake shoe, that locate on a pin in the back plate?
If so and the handbrake mechanism doesn't foul it then you should be able to gentle lever the shoes inwards towards the wheel cylinder overcoming the friction self adjuster.
There are plenty of 500 Forum members here who can be more exact than me, as the last one I owned was in 1978.

You are pretty well spot-on there 'Bugsy'---the shoes need to be pushed in as far as they will go, with the handbrake either disconnected or adjusted right off.
I normally use a ring spanner in between the back-plate edge and the shoe to ease them in as far as they will go. The handbrake is adjusted by lengthening/shortening the outer-sheath of the cable (both sides). The outer sheath for the handbrake cable goes through a bracket on the wishbones, with a nut either side of the bracket (can'tremember off-hand whether the nuts are 17mm or 19mm). You LENGTHEN the outer to 'harden' the handbrake, and SHORTEN the outer sheath to 'soften' the handbrake. You will need short open spanners to turn the nuts---worthwhile getting a pair of old spanners of the correct size and cutting them down to length for future use.