Rear drum brake service? Educate me

[Reinhardtius]

Folks

When I brake, there is a hum coming from the rear. If you brake hard, it does not hum. And, it only hums sometimes, usually when I drive to a red stop light (light braking). I have replacement studs for the left hub assembly (one stud is a little short), so I could get in there and clean stuff up, and service the rear brakes. I have never worked on rear drum brakes before. I'll go to YouTube like I always do to learn how to do that, but please feel free to educate me on the possible source of this hum, and any precautions before I get into the rear braking system.

TIA!

R

 

[SNLC]

I find it is easiest to remove the pads as a whole assembly. Trick I have learned over the years.

Cheers

 

[roscoFJ73]

First thing you should do is feel for heat after a drive to see if they are dragging. You can buy special brake drum pliers that have a number of attachments to lever the springs off, but it can be done without them easy enough.
Take a pic of the drum brakes before you start and even take a few more as you dismantle them. But its quite easy once you get going.

The worst part can be getting the drums off. If they are stuck you can hit the drum with a rubber mallet to loosen them or soak them in some solvent for a day or 2. You can also use a puller on the drum. Hit the drum with a mallet then turn the puller a few threads then repeat.

Is it possible the hum is from the brake linings missing and its now metal to metal?

 

[SNLC]

IIRC, 10mmx1.25 bolt goes in the drum to push it off, pretty sure that is the size but it could be 8mm. I got a pile of 10, 8 & 6mm, its one of them. Look for two opposing small threaded holes in the drum. Generally, that is the easy way to get the drum off.

Cheers

 

[jblueridge]

Make sure e-brake is slack: check where the lever arm emerges from the backplate. Disconnect cable and whack lever if necessary.
Practice adjusting the brakes via the star wheel before re-installing the drum so you get a good idea of the procedure. Don’t trust the auto-adjusting feature.

 

[Honger]

The videos in this thread walk you through a lot of these things... and give you a good visual of what's behind your wheels...

Knuckle rebuild video - final video in the series