wheel cylinders (1 Viewer)

[lowtideride]

they guy i bought my cruiser off of over a year ago gave me wheel cylenders and said they need replaced i have no touched em yet, but while doing the spring over the cruiser has been in one spot for over a week and i noticed the back wheel is leaking brake fluid ,its got to be the wheel cylinders...anyway ive never torn apart a drum brake before( never had too) but how much work is invloved??? any tips??? (thanks) totally off subject but does anyone remember if the pitman arm bolts are 17mm? thanks for all the help..with out you guys it would be a rusted out stock cruiser...thanks for everything...AL

 

[Poser]

Brakes on this truck are pretty strait forward. Do one side at a time so that you have one too look at incase you do not remember, or do not have a book.

will probably need to use the threaded spot of the drum, inbetween where the wheel studs pass through, for a 8x1.25x40mm forcing bolt to get the drum off the axle. I have had them come off by tapping on them with a hammer, but the forcing bolt set up works the best.


"Pitman arm bolts"? Are you talking about the steering arms on the top of the knuckles? If so, yes, those are a 17mm hex size nut, should be a 12mmx1.0 thread stud on the side that is used to retain the arm, and a 12mmx1.5 for the side that threads into the knuckle.

Good luck!

-Steve

 

[lowtideride]

thanks steve..
i have a manual but somtimes those things are not that great.. like the prob i had last with the spring pins..from the book(slide the spring pin out.) turn out to be much harder than they made it seem...just wondering what you guys had to say.. thanks -al

 

[Trevor]

I haven't tried Poser's method, but I know getting the drums off is a pain. I used a bunch of PB Blaster and a 4lb hammer to get mine off. It took about 20 minutes each side. Once the drum is off, it isn't too bad. Don't confuse which cylinders go where. Also be careful of the direction you put the pads on.

Good luck.

 

[Poser]

The 8/80 and later drum brake set ups for Land Cruisers all should have the small threaded hole to use a bolt to brake the bond between the drum and the axle flange. The earlier brake systems have too thin of a flange face on the drum to be able to use this method, in which case, after backing off your brake shoes, rapping the drum with a hammer, should knock it loose.

No matter what year your drum brake set up is, there is a phillips head screw that needs to be removed before attmepting to remove the drum. I have found that some of the early trucks were missing this. The best idea here is to get a good #3 phillips and rap the end of it once or twice to break the bond that the threads have on each other.

Good luck!

-Steve

 

[fsusteve]

If you're gonna do a brake job do it right, that means all new shoes, hardware kit (springs), new (not rebuilt) wheel cylinders and depending on the drums, turn them or replace. Do the front at the same time. Check your rubber brake lines too. Not sure about the 60's, but 40's run dual cylinders per wheel making it a bit of a pain to do the springs install, just take your time. Adjust the shoes out before putting the drum on, much easier that way. I usually gravity bleed the brakes, then use a hand held brake bleeder to finish. If you do them right you won't have to screw with them for a while and no scary stops behind touristios.

 

[lowtideride]

thanks everyone.. send me some good vibes that i dont f up..al

 

[bad_religion_au]

good luck. but if i can rebuild the brakes on my 45, anyone can.

and they still stop me 6 months down the track what a relief. these trucks are simple to work on. just use the force.... lots of force

 

[1973Guppie]

Honestly, a great time to go to discs. You won't be sorry you did. A little more work and time but in the long run much less work. Wish I had done this before the several times I rebuilt the drum brakes to no avail. I never could get them to work correctly for any long period of time without having to go back in and fuss with something. Good luck.

Noah

 

[bad_religion_au]

i know this flies in the face of rationalism, but since rebuilding the hj45's drums, i prefer it's drum braking over my fj40's disks, and the hj has a lot more mass to stop. adjustment, and inneffectual braking after going through water are the only issues i have with drums. but disks are still ok.