Can somebody help me figure out how to remove the rear drums and replace the rear brakes? Van has 4 wheel ABS on it - it appears tricky to do the rears on this van.
On a side note, the front brakes seem to wear unevenly. One side had more wear than the other side.
gas28man
02-02-2005, 10:45 AM
Uneven front wear indicates a bad caliper on the side that wears more. On the rears, are we talking drums or discs?
Rick
99 rango
02-02-2005, 11:55 AM
it wasn't uneven on the same side (pads on the same side were pretty close to the same wear). It was uneven from the left side to the right side (pass. side).
Drum rear brakes. I wish they were disks, those are easy. It seems you need a special tool to remove this type of drum though.
427v8
02-03-2005, 09:44 AM
Drums arn't that different from normal drums.
Drums are almost always rusted onto the hub. you need a drum puller. It's a big 3 jaw pully puller kind of thing.
hammers and heat are also commonly involved...
gas28man
02-03-2005, 10:10 AM
Before you go nuts with the pullers and the hammers and the heat, make sure you've turned the star wheel enough to retract the pads enough to clear the drum. Often, you'll find that the pads dig into the wear surface of the drum and leave a raised lip around the inside edge that the pads must clear when you pull the drum off. Sometimes the star wheel itself can be seized, and then you're REALLY in for a tussle. I strongly recommend that once a day for 2-3 days before you start this job, spray some PB Blaster on the star wheel and the contact patch where the drum rests against the hub.
THEN use the puller and the hammer and the heat . . . the fun part of the job.
