I am replacing the rear brake shoes on my 99 Ranger. I cannot remove the drum to get at the old shoes. I know the shoes have worn and the drum also, so likely a lip on the drum that prevents from sliding over the shoes. How do I back off the position of the shoes? The adjusting screw wheel will not turn in reverse either. The ebrake is released. Any suggestions?

 

The only way to make the adjuster go backwards it to use a small pry tool or small screwdriver and push the arm that moves the adjuster away from the adjuster and hold it there while you turn the adjuster. By the way, did you try hitting the brake drum with a hammer?

 

Can you access the arm through the little slit? Yes, used the hammer to get it free from the studs but then I could tell it was hitting the shoes. It walked up onto the shoes but just too tight to slip forward and off.

 

If the brake drum will not come off, follow these steps.

Loosen the brake shoe adjusting screw nut (2047).
Using a screwdriver, move the brake shoe adjusting lever (2A176) off the brake adjuster screw (2041).
NOTE: Move the adjustment tool handle downward to loosen the brake shoe adjusting screw nut.

Use the Brake Adjustment Tool to loosen the brake shoe adjusting screw nut.

 

I just wanted to remove the drums to check wear. noway did they move so I put some penitrateing oil around the drum hub area. Still no go even after tapping with a mallet , so I applyed some heat with a torch an they popped right off. Then I cleaned the drum and hub of rust applyed some brake anti seize to the surface.Now they come off easy.

 

^^ that's what I did. couldn't get the drums off when I did my limited slip swap. 2 minutes with a propane torch, some PB blaster, and mr dead blow hammer and they came right off. I sanded the hub and added some anti sieze :0

 

Never heard of anyone using a torch to heat a brake drum to get it off. For me, a big hammer will brake them loose every time. I figure if it breaks the drum, it needed replacing anyway. The problem some people run into, like this thread, is getting the drum off the shoes after they have been adjusted out and a lip has formed on the drum.

 

Yes, Camp Springs.....you are right and your solution which was further described by Gevans is the approach needed. With the PB and light tapping of the hammer, the drum freed from the studs and center hub....that is not the problem. What remains as you say is to slide the drum off the expanded brakes with the lip formed. I will be attacking this again this afternoon and will report. Thanks for the assistance.

 

I love to work on my truck, but it seems I spend about 10x the effort what it should take to get the old worn stuff off. For all the pain, sometimes I should just take it to the mechanic.

The adjusting screw was pretty seized up and would not rotate enough to allow the shoes to collapse enough for the drum to easily slide off. Ended up just driving the drum off with a 4# hammer while occassionally soaking the shoe with lubricant. So needless to say I need to replace the drum but that's not an issue. It's been a probably 15 years since I messed with drum brakes so the instructions in the sticky section are very helpful.

 

With my son's help, we finished replacing rear shoes and drums. Same pains removing the drum on the other wheel, but we beat through it. On the second wheel, everything assembled just fine, but at the end the adjusting lever would not line up correctly on the adjusting screw "wheel" and thus it would not index the screw properly. Does anyone know how to correct this problem?

The installation instructions in the tech info site references a Diagnosis and Testing document Section 06-00 in Step #17. I am hoping this might identify the fix. Does anyone have this document?

Thank you. Pat

 

Don't know about that document Pat, but those automatic 'adjusters' are a pain to get working properly. They're notorious for not working. I've known people who included getting the rear brakes adjusted during annual maintenance checks with their mechanics.

The mechanism is usually a bit sloppy with respect to the adjuster arm(this actually helps keep it from seizing up). The spring pressure from the brake shoe retaining spring is supposed to keep the end of the adjuster arm up against the star wheel of the adjuster. Did the adjuster arm get bent when you removed the drum? It's just stamped steel, so in shouldn't be do hard to bend.

Good luck
fred

 

Did you get a new adjuster kit, or are you reusing the old parts. If you got new parts make sure they gave you a left and a right kit. I had a parts store give me two left side kits and banged my head against the wall for a while untill i realized that there were supposed to be two different arms.

 

Thanks for the responses.

As part of the brake replacement, I replaced with new all the springs, clips and the adjusting screw system (screw, lever, cable, spring...Advance Auto had it in a complete kit). And we were careful to keep track of right and left because yes there is a kit for each....R and L is stamped on the adjusting screw. We were careful to make sure the adjuster arm did not get bent.

Like I said, the passenger side worked perfectly. However on the driver side, everything installed and lined up just as I had expected. The lever makes good contact with the screw wheel and it will rotate the wheel but when the lever returns it turns the wheel back to the starting position. I guess I just need to keep futzing with it. I assume I need to make a slight bend to the lever but not real sure where. Maybe I install the old lever and see if it works.