Brake shoes make you a man (or woman). Unlike brake pads, which are a snap to change, changing brake shoes is all springs and hate. But like most things on the car the first one is a total pain, then when you figure it out, the other side is a piece of cake. I had been through this process on Blue Cyanide before, but each car has their own delicate balance of springs. I'll spare you the details of the various curses uttered on the first one and get straight to the successful methods on the second one that you will want to recreate.
I used:
Screwdrivers (medium flathead, and small one for pushing ratchet mechanism)
Hammer
Small vice grips
Big Vice grips
Brake hold-down spring tool
Lots of brake cleaner
Haynes manual
New shoes
New spring kit
High Temp Grease
1. Jack up the car and take the wheel off. Remember: safety glasses, jack stands, wheel blocks.
2. Take off the drum. This is the trickiest part if you haven't done it before. This is because you need to retract the brakes first, and you have to do it through a hole in the back, not having previously seen what is in there. On both the Corolla and the Sentra you need to simultaneously move the ratchet mechanism and spin the star wheel. (Th screwdriver through the back should spin it "up.") However, where the Corolla had a slot for the screwdriver to go in and lever the mechanism out of the way, on the Sentra, you just push it. Hopefully this picture of the screwdriver pushing the mechanism off the star wheel will help you visualize what you are trying to do.
3. After you get the brakes retracted, you may still not be able to get the drum off because it is rusted on. Look for two threaded holes on the drum. If you have them, put two bolts in them and turn until the drum comes off. If you don't have the holes, you are stuck and you need to go rent/buy a drum puller.
After you get the drum off, it looks like this:
4. Wash everything down with Brake Cleaner. Don't breathe the cleaner or the dust.
5. Now you can start to remove pieces. Start with the main spring. This is the most straightforward. I just grabbed it with a small vice grips and pulled it out of its hole. It actually wasn't too bad.
6. Now you can remove the brake hold-down springs on either side of the hub using the unitasker we bought for the purpose. The fit is tight around the hub, but I found I could slip it in the bottom and work it up to the spring. You just push on the thing and turn it a quarter turn, but you may have to hold the pin from the back and wiggle it a lot. You should get it.
7. Consider the situation. This is where I started swearing on the first wheel, because I couldn't figure out how to get the damn springs off. The Haynes manual says something unhelpful like "remove the shoes as an assembly." Fortunately, I am here to tell you how to get the stupid things off. First, back off the star wheel so there is no extra tension in the spring. Then look at the bottom of the assembly. There is kind of a block that both the shoes ride on. The key to this is using that block for leverage against the bottom spring. Take your bigger screwdriver and jam it straight up between the block and one of the shoes.
Pull the shoe off the block so that it slides in front of it. This should take the tension out of the bottom spring. Pull that spring out and the rest of the assembly should fall free, though you may have to pull out the top adjuster spring.
8. The last piece that's still attached is the parking brake. You just need to slide back the spring and take it off. This is easy on the Sentra.
9. You have it apart. Good job. Now, we are at the annoying part. You are replacing the shoes, but you aren't replacing all the parts. One of the parts you aren't replacing is the parking brake arm. So you have to get it off the shoe. It's held on by the most annoying method possible. The C-washer.
Before you get to taking it off, note where it's held on and on which shoe. You are going to need to attach it to the new shoe and if you attach it to the wrong shoe or the wrong post, you won't get a second chance because of the < expletive > C-washer.
Anyway, after you've noted its attachment point, set the shoe on the ground and grab your hammer and screwdriver. Put the screwdriver at the opening of the C-washer and pound on it with the hammer until it begins to open. Then pry, twist, and generally manhandle the C-washer off. You can't use it again, so don't worry about ruining it.
WORD OF WARNING: I used the spring kit from Autozone. This will give you C-Washers and other parts you will replace. However, the washers they give you to go under the C-washers are really thick lock washers. I have no idea how you are supposed to get that thing on with those washers. SO, if you have this kit, you need to be careful when you remove the old C-washer. You can damage the C-washer all you want, but try to keep the washer underneath in tact. When you get it apart, compare its thickness to the one in the kit and shake your head.
10. Now you have everything apart. Take a moment to sort the hardware you need to keep from that you are replacing. Everything you are replacing should be in your spring kit. Take the stuff you are keeping and give it another wash with your brake cleaner.
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| Keep these. |
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| Throw these away (recycle them) |
11. We can now start putting everything back together in reverse. Use the old flat washer and the new C-washer from the kit to attach the parking brake lever. This Autozone kit has a C-washer with no little nubs to get a grip, but I was able to close it anyway with a big vice grips.
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| Open |
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| Closed |
12. Sand, brush or just wipe down the points where the shoes make contact, and put a little high temp grease on those points. Just a little though. You don't want to grease the brakes.
13. Reattach the parking brake, rotate the trailing shoe into position and use the new hold-down spring to ... hold it down.
14. Now things get difficult again, and the manuals say stupid stuff like "attach the spring." Here's how to do it easily. Take the adjuster spring and attach it to both shoes. It goes through a hole on the trailing shoe and a post on the leading shoe. (Make sure it attaches around the back of the trailing shoe.)
15. Maneuver the leading shoe into position at the top, but don't bother trying to get the bottom into position. Leave it in front of the block at the bottom. It should be loose enough that you can attach the bottom spring without too much trouble.
16. Now take your screwdriver and jam it between the block and the shoe, but this time, jam it in the front, above the spring. Leverage the shoe into position, let it ride down the screwdriver and onto the block where it belongs. This is by far the easiest way to do this. The spring goes below the block, so if it is not there at the end of this operation, push it there. Then you can attach the other hold down spring.
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| Sorry this picture stinks |
17. Slip the self adjuster into place. Sorry I don't have a trick. You just need to screw it as small as it goes and manhandle (or womanhandle) it into place.
18. Attach the self adjuster ratchet mechanism.
19. The return spring is the last hard part. Hook it into place on the ratchet mechanism. Then, hook it on the screwdriver. Stick the end of the screwdriver over the post you ar trying to get on. Use the leverage to stretch the spring, and let it ride down the screwdriver onto the post.
20. All Right! We got it all back together.
21. Now what you need to do is move the star wheel to expand the brake shoes until the drum drags a little then back off. a little. You can expand them a bit with the drum off, then you need to put the drum on, expand them a little more. Step on the brakes pedal a few times to center the shoes. NEVER STEP ON THE PEDAL WITH THE DRUMS OFF! Then you can adjust the rest of the way with the
22. Do the other one.
23. Turn on the car and try the pedal. If it goes straight to the floor, your shoes are too far away from the drum. Get out and adjust the star wheel again. If it seems ok, put the wheels pack on and take a careful spin around the block. Operate the hand brake a few times to advance the adjuster to the correct position. I always go in reverse and stop the car with the hand brake a few times, though I am not sure this is strictly necessary. It may be a leftover practice from another age.
24. That's it. You're done. Celebrate!
