'90 Golf can't get rear drum back on after replacing pads

Hi,
Am replacing rear brake shoes. Had a leaky cylinder that was causing
the rear-right brake to lock up and the tire to skid on moderately
hard stops in wet weather. Anyways, I started with the good side (left
rear), replaced shoes, springs etc. But for the life of me I can't get
the drum back on, it appears the shoes aren't retracting enough. I've
bled the cylinder in hopes of getting the two pistons (name?) to
retract a bit more. But no go. I get my parts from VW parts place and
they know their parts inside out so unlikely I have different sized
shoes for another car. Plus I put the old and new side by side and
they appear the same size. I've backed off the emerg. brake cables
too. I'm pretty sure I have all the connector bits and springs
arranged correctly. I have the self-adjusting pin pushed all the way
up. I haven't got to putting shoes and drum back on the right hand
side yet.

What am I doing wrong?
Thanks .

On Sep 2, 12:24*am, tonyw > wrote:
>...But for the life of me I can't get the drum back on, it
> appears the shoes aren't retracting enough.

I figured it out, there are front shoes for the left and right side.
Either side will fit in the front position and all the bits and pieces
and springs all fit into place. But using the wrong one throws the
geometry out and the shoes end up further out and the drum won't go
back on. The correct front shoe is the one that lets the adjuster key
sit on the side of the shoe facing the backing plate.

The brake shoes last such a long time that it's easily 10 years
between rear brake jobs, so I forget. Hopefully this post will still
be here 10 years from now, I'm going to post a reminder. the big
lower spring, the method that worked this time was to assemble the
brake shoe assembly (according to Bentley), attach the emergency brake
cable (back off the tensioner on the hand brake lever), fit the 2
anchor pins and keepers, and leave the bottom of the shoes sitting
outboard of the bottom anchor points. This brings the bottom of the
shoes together and it's easier to get the lower spring on. Then using
a foot and the massive leg muscle, push on the lower part of the shoe
to pop it into place on the lower anchor. Do the same to the other
shoe.This ultimately was easier than trying to wrestle the spring into
place even with a spring plier tool.

Another note to self, the one-man-brake bleeders don't work as well as
having a helper press the brake pedal. I have a Mity-Vac vacuum tool
but it sucks more air from around the bleeder nipple and rubber
adapter that it doesn't draw a steady column of brake fluid. Started
out on a test drive and discovered I had no brakes. I then bought a KD-
Tool 2538 one-man-bleeder but couldn't get the tiny hole in the rubber
adapter over the bleeder nipple. But I took the one-way valve off and
put it some tubing and used the nipple adapter from the Mity-Vac to
make a tube. Then got a helper to pump the brake pedal. Perfect and
fast.

"tonyw" > schreef in bericht
...
On Sep 2, 12:24 am, tonyw > wrote:
>...But for the life of me I can't get the drum back on, it
> appears the shoes aren't retracting enough.



Another note to self, the one-man-brake bleeders don't work as well as
having a helper press the brake pedal. I have a Mity-Vac vacuum tool
but it sucks more air from around the bleeder nipple and rubber
adapter that it doesn't draw a steady column of brake fluid.


I always use the EEZI BLEED tool. Instead of a vacuum it uses the tire
pressure (2bar) to pressurize the lines. With vacuum you only get, if lucky,
about -0.6bar. It also fills up the reservoir in the same time!

SFC

On Sep 3, 2:13*am, "SFC" > wrote:
> I always use the EEZI BLEED tool. Instead of a vacuum it uses the tire
> pressure (2bar) to pressurize the lines. With vacuum you only get, if lucky,
> about -0.6bar. It also fills up the reservoir in the same time!
> SFC

Thanks SFC, the EEZI Bleed looks like a great tool. I have a stack of
other-season tires in the garage I can use for pressure.I'll check on
the availability of the tool in Canada (auto tools are way more
expensive here than what I see advertised in the USA).

-Tony

You can adjust your rear shoes so the drum will fit.


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