Drum Brakes: How do you know, ... WHEN?

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
We still own a Silverado or two with rear drums, I think they are 05's. Funny that the trucks come with rear discs until you get the trailering package with short gears and locking diff.


Are you saying the drums were actually "optional" and included w/ the heavier packages on the same generation of truck? If so, very interesting. Our Suburban 3/4 ton w/ tow package and 4.10 gears has drums, and they look pretty serious, filling pretty much the whole wheel.

 

[surfstar]

'93 Mazda 339k miles - replaced front pads only @ 135k. Never touched the rear drums at all!

 

[mechtech2]

Discs all the way around are better for ABS brake systems.

But I abhor ABS and like rear drums/front discs.

You gotta yank the drums every 30-40K or so and see what's up. They wear slowly on the rear. But cleaning and lubing things then is a great idea.

 

[Chris142]

I was taught that the rears last as long as 2sets of fronts.my 73 international pickup has drums on all 4 corners. Drums have more surface area than discs plus they cam out under heavy stopping pressire and will out stop disc brakes untill the drums get hot and expand.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: rationull
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
We still own a Silverado or two with rear drums, I think they are 05's. Funny that the trucks come with rear discs until you get the trailering package with short gears and locking diff.


Are you saying the drums were actually "optional" and included w/ the heavier packages on the same generation of truck? If so, very interesting. Our Suburban 3/4 ton w/ tow package and 4.10 gears has drums, and they look pretty serious, filling pretty much the whole wheel.


yes, they are part of the HD towing setup with 3.73 gears in a factory posi, factory mounted hitch and wiring, etc. The lighter duty version comes with rear disc brakes.

My older Savanas had drums up till around 2000, each one weighed around 90 pounds! We called them 'dump truck brakes'!

 

[mechtech2]

Steve -
Very interesting!

 

[ronbo]

Hate drums, esp the rear a royal pain with the emergency brake hook up.

Also hitting with hammer to remove effects alignment, best to use a puller.

In old days with all drums, brakes wouldn't stop after driving thru water.

 

[Cogito]

I've got 130K on my 89 Civic, and have replaced the front pads several times, but cannot remember ever replacing the rear shoes. I've been told that it is a big job pulling the rear drums to checkout the shoes, so I'm just waiting for any audible warnings of wear.

 

[Chris142]

Originally Posted By: Cogito
I've been told that it is a big job pulling the rear drums to checkout the shoes, so I'm just waiting for any audible warnings of wear.
It's very simple.

 

[hattaresguy]

Originally Posted By: rationull
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
We still own a Silverado or two with rear drums, I think they are 05's. Funny that the trucks come with rear discs until you get the trailering package with short gears and locking diff.


Are you saying the drums were actually "optional" and included w/ the heavier packages on the same generation of truck? If so, very interesting. Our Suburban 3/4 ton w/ tow package and 4.10 gears has drums, and they look pretty serious, filling pretty much the whole wheel.


Yeah real trucks have drum brakes, go look under a dump truck, or any other big truck for that mater some time.

Drum's are great, they last forever.

Drums are easy to inspect, pull the drum off once in awhile and inspect the shoes. They should last 100k-150k or more on most passenger vehicles. On light economy cars they are almost life time brakes which is perfect for the owners wallet.

 

[ltslimjim]

You guys don't even want to know how terrible of a job my first rear drum servicing became because I settled on an aftermarket "Brake Select" part from O'Reilly for my '92 Civic: Worst decision ever.

Why? I knew something was up with the replacement shoes having the pad materials bonded at a different 'clocked position' compared to the ones I removed from the vehicle at around 235,000 miles.

My dad thought it'd be okay and he was showing how to do the job. Got the job done, but settled on the wrong parts. Fail!

It has progressively made strange noise and needs to be redone. It has like a rusty chirping when braking on the driver side while the passenger rear shoes just plain roar.

I have better replacement shoes now, and new drums, waiting to go on the vehicle. It's just been one terrible allergy season and it affects my everyday job if I get out there now. Waiting to summer but might just put on credit labor at some shops I finally have found that do great work and no [censored] working with me. Respect, yo!

PS: New hardware kits ready and a HUGE note: Use the correct anti-sieze and lube compounds at various contact points that need such; depending on design and especially if long-term between servicing intervals. Clean everything up REALLY well inside, too, before putting new parts on to finish the job.

 

[supton]

It'd be nice if the factory used a bit more anti-sieze in places where stuff wants to sieze. It'd probably be a hair easier to pull drums if a bit of that was used; and if they were inspected more often. Like once/year.

Speaking of stopping after a puddle: heck, my 4 wheel disc VW has issues with that, w/o puddles. Drive 10+ miles w/o touching the brake, and it'll take 25 yards or more to dry out. A bit unnerving at times.

 

[javacontour]

My wife's 2002 Camry still has the original rear drum shoes at ~235K miles. I had the drums off last year lots of material left.

Mostly highway driving AND I'm convinced that both her and now the kids who drive it don't come to a complete stop when they back up, avoiding the adjuster

 

[Vikas]

I don't think 2002 Camry has the "adjust-in-reverse-braking" type of thingy. They auto-adjust when parking brakes are used regularly.

 

[artificialist]

I often find cars where there was plenty of brake shoe material left, but the wheel cylinders developed a leak and destroyed the brake shoes. Sometimes it happens as early as 5 years.

It is less likely to happen if you flush out the brake fluid every 2 or 3 years.