Bendix now offers pre-assembled brake shoe kits for some cars

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Drum brakes are scary, and much harder to deal with than discs. But now, Roulunds/MAT/Bendix has these pre-assembled kits for some of the more-popular cars, including the Mk1 Focus
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I've heard of them for a few months, but now is the first time I've actually seen them for sale with a price on it that you can actually buy them for. Rock Auto and Amazon now carry them. If they have the kits for your car, the part number will be SK___, the blank being the FMSI number. For example, SK747

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In other news, Brembo now has a line of ceramic shoes for some cars with drum brakes. Although they are just the shoes and not pre-assembled like the Bendix kits, it's still nice to have ceramic shoes finally be available.
 
Drum brakes are very easy to do, no trouble at all. These are aimed at the beginner DIY who will pee their pants if it all falls apart on the ground when they try and mount it.
 
Originally Posted by Trav
Drum brakes are very easy to do, no trouble at all. These are aimed at the beginner DIY who will pee their pants if it all falls apart on the ground when they try and mount it.

I hate drum brakes! I have been replacing they for over 35 years. I was ase certified in brakes 20 years ago. Still hate them. Bendix are not as bad as some imports. Those take all day!
 
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Yes, sometimes it seems designers want to make something different, just because. Sometimes I wonder how their improved version got past the planning committee. Drum brakes are a good example. Little changes to a simple design, just so a Toyota can be different to a Mazda.
 
Originally Posted by Trav
Drum brakes are very easy to do, no trouble at all. These are aimed at the beginner DIY who will pee their pants if it all falls apart on the ground when they try and mount it.

LOL Ain't that the truth. I wonder how many people here grew up after drum brakes were no longer used on the front of the car. I remember my 72 Plymouth Satellite had drum brakes on all 4 wheels. A good friend had a 73 and that was the first year for disk brakes on the front of the Satellite.
 
When I started trade school in 71 most of the cars we worked on were between 5 and 10 years old, disc brakes were almost non existent, drums all round with the front wheel bearings in the drum. Honestly it never bothered me to change them, just part of the job as was rebuilding carbs, fuel pumps, starters, alternators/generators and distributors. .

We had it easier than the guys who went down the same road before us, they had to replace leather backed engine bearings, bore blocks in the engine (not hone), rebuild mufflers, and reline and rivet their own shoes. Fortunately the guy I apprenticed under after trade school taught me all these things and more, he started out as diesel mechanic in the navy on an LST in WWII.
Today things are different, lots of things we do are easier and many things much more difficult but that's the game we chose to play in.

Some of my first tools were brake pliers, retaining spring tool, cylinder clamps and hone and brake spoons.
 
Originally Posted by Trav
When I started trade school in 71 most of the cars we worked on were between 5 and 10 years old, disc brakes were almost non existent, drums all round with the front wheel bearings in the drum. Honestly it never bothered me to change them, just part of the job as was rebuilding carbs, fuel pumps, starters, alternators/generators and distributors. .

We had it easier than the guys who went down the same road before us, they had to replace leather backed engine bearings, bore blocks in the engine (not hone), rebuild mufflers, and reline and rivet their own shoes. Fortunately the guy I apprenticed under after trade school taught me all these things and more, he started out as diesel mechanic in the navy on an LST in WWII.
Today things are different, lots of things we do are easier and many things much more difficult but that's the game we chose to play in.

Some of my first tools were brake pliers, retaining spring tool, cylinder clamps and hone and brake spoons.

I still have those tools. The brake pliers, retaining spring tool, and brake spoons still see use on my van, only once every decade or so. LOL
 
This reminds me of being able to buy pre-loaded weedwhacker spools, or starter rope assemblies for lawnmowers.

I have a pretty good feeling setups like this are how they slap cars together on the assembly line... or the pre-assembly line for the sub-assembly. It's not a stretch to offer these for the aftermarket, especially if you force it through your distribution channel so there's less room for your competitors' stuff.
 
Originally Posted by Trav
Drum brakes are very easy to do, no trouble at all. These are aimed at the beginner DIY who will pee their pants if it all falls apart on the ground when they try and mount it.


Yeah...two shoe drums are simple. Besides, you can leave one side alone as a reference while you bumble around with the other.

Want a challenge?

Try adjusting the brakes on a car with drums that have three shoes...
 
my old vw's have drums at least on the rear. adjust the brake through a hole under the hub cap. No self adjusters there. J.C. Whitney used to sell just the lining and I'd rivet the linings on.
 
I have changed drum brakes on cars all the way through Class , vehicles as well as multi disc wet brakes on industrial equipment .Brakes aren't that hard.
 
Take a picture before disassembling the worn set. Everyone has a phone camera. or take both drums off and do one side at a time keeping the other for reference.
 
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My older brother made assembling drum brakes look easy; took him barely a minute or so.
Me, not so much. I kinda like this pre-assembled option as a time saver and perhaps younger DIYers might tackle the job.
As long as the parts are quality.
 
Originally Posted by user52165
"Drum brakes are very easy to do, no trouble at all. These are aimed at the beginner DIY who will pee their pants if it all falls apart on the ground when they try and mount it."

The average newbie DIYer won't have one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/ABN-Install-...;qid=1554532798&s=gateway&sr=8-4

While not totally neccessary, it sure helps.


I still have one of those, got a rear drum tool kit from the JC Whitney catalog back in the day. Still have a few of the other pieces like the brake spoon and that tool to take the clips off shoes. I just have disc brakes now so I suppose I should throw them away at some point, but they're still sitting at the bottom of my toolbox.
 
I can't see how these kits will go in easily pre-assembled. I'd be willing to bet that during installation this assembly becomes a normal pile of parts.

I'm no mechanic and also no genius but drum brakes are complex looking but charmingly old timey simple once you get the hang of them. Don't worry, you can do it.
 
I don't find it hard to do drums but could see getting the kit just to get all new parts after a certain # of years, if it's priced right, except it is a lot easier to find parts in the internet era.

Heck for many repairs on popular vehicles you can even find youtube videos showing step by step, so the main barrier to DIY is having the space, the tools, alternate transportation if you can't suffer downtime, and of course a DIY attitude which bears on your accumulated tool collection.
 
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