Nothing ever goes right when working on my vehicles.

wtd

Joined
Jun 25, 2002
Messages
3,655
Location
southwest Mo.
Last week the right rear wheel kept locking up on my 92 Cavalier when applying the brakes so I decided to take the tire and drum off to see what was going on. The first issue was that the drum would not come off. I spent about an hour beating on the drum and using a lot of penetrant before it came off. It was rusted on good. The last time I messed with the rear brakes on this car was almost 14 years ago when I put new pads and wheel cylinders in on both sides.

I see that I have a leaking wheel cylinder and the adjuster is frozen up. I get the adjuster freed up and decide that I was going to wait to do the wheel cylinder because you have to loosen the hub bearing assembly to remove the wheel cylinder since there is not enough room to get it off past the flange. I also decided to replace the pads and drums since they were about half way worn and the drum was in bad shape.

So today I decide to tackle the job. I start on the other side since I know the drum will be rusted on which it was. It takes me quite a while to get it off. I then remove all of the brake hardware so I can get to the hub bearing bolts. I get the brake line loose, wheel cylinder bolts loose, and the hub bearing bolts loose but then discovered that the wheel bearing is rusted to the backing plate so that I can't remove the wheel cylinder. The wheel cylinder is also rusted to the backing plate. It takes me about an hour to get those loose. Since it's been awhile since I've done drum brakes, I had to keep looking at the pictures I took before hand and I had some issues with installing the upper springs even though I have all of the correct tools. They just didn't want to cooperate.

I finally get that side done at about 2pm and I started at about 10am. I go to the other side where I had already taken the drum off from last week so that part went smooth but of coarse the hub bearing assembly and wheel cylinder was rusted to the backing plate. I finally got the other side done at about 4:30 pm and that included adjusting the parking brake.

I still had to bleed the brakes but I was tired so I packed it in and will finish that part tomorrow. With as much of a hassle this turned out to be, I should have just had our mechanic do it since he is pretty reasonable on prices. I put anti-seize on all of the contact surfaces this time just in case I ever have to take this stuff back apart.
 
I think I found the source of your problems....

Originally Posted by wtd
Last week the right rear wheel kept locking up on my 92 Cavalier when applying the brakes ....

28.gif
 
Originally Posted by Lolvoguy
I think I found the source of your problems....

Originally Posted by wtd
Last week the right rear wheel kept locking up on my 92 Cavalier when applying the brakes ....

28.gif


It's been a pretty reliable car. I bought it as a drive to work beater years ago and still drive it even though I'm retired now. It gets good gas mileage and insurance is cheap so I keep it around. Plus I think it's an antique now. LOL
 
OP:

If you ran into all those hassles and still got the job done in 6 1/2 hours - congrats! It sounds like the job went well considering, just so long as you did it right. Has to be a big PIA, working on rusty stuff like that. I wouldn't like it either.

Scott
 
You did good!

Amazing thing about rear drums like this is they've probably only needed to be messed with 2x since 1992.
 
Man I hate fooling with drums. Not because they're super hard, they just never want to go back together like they're supposed to and you end up dropping this or that or not being able to get something lined up right. I'd rather do 20 sets of disks to one set of drums....unless its a mid 90's Honda Accord, you can keep those too.
 
I tell myself, this won't take long. I get everything ready beforehand. But, most times it never comes off as planned.
 
I have had bad luck on some of those jobs too. I hire out the tough jobs now since I usually don't have the correct tools for some of those jobs or the intestinal fortitude.
 
Instead of replacing the wheel cylinders , did you consider re-building them . Back in the day , I had a wheel cylinder hone I used for this type of repair . Purchased , I think , at Sears . No idea where it is now ? In a pinch , I have used emery cloth .

I also dislike doing drum brakes ! :-(

Good to hear you got it done .
 
Everything takes me twice as long as it should, usually because I cannot find the right tool....need to clean out my garage someday.
 
Originally Posted by Lolvoguy
I think I found the source of your problems....

Originally Posted by wtd
Last week the right rear wheel kept locking up on my 92 Cavalier when applying the brakes ....

28.gif


Nailed it
 
Everything I do takes at least 3x then it should. And Im always missing at least one essential tool (even if I own it, cant find it).

I dont have issues wrenching onm y early 1980s MB cars, but they are completely rust free and barely see even rain at this point. A car approaching 30 years, if lived outside, will have different levels of materials brittleness, corrosion and rust, etc.
 
I think there's value in busting apart brakes on a yearly basis, all the moreso up here.

At least you got it done, and if anything went sideways, you had other vehicles to bail yourself out with. Once in a while I look at a job and ask myself, if this goes sideways, can it be towed from here? If I think think I can't get it done, then that's the sign to let someone else do it. Otherwise I'll tackle it, might not like parking it for a few days but once in, gotta finish it.
 
Originally Posted by Char Baby
Join the club!
Not only with cars but around the home too. I was doing plumbing the other day...!


Ditto on the plumbing. I will be starting some curtain rod installs this weekend. The problem
may be that my wife is there the entire time, if you know what I mean. Quarter inch over. It's
got to be centered. Why won't it just screw in like the other side? Are you sure it's level? All
you gotta do is fill the old holes with some spackling and let it dry and redrill, right? LOL
 
It happens, and sounds like a reasonably successful process. You didn't strip or break any bolts and the job was done in the end.

Smooth progress under the circumstances.
 
Originally Posted by dwcopple
Originally Posted by Lolvoguy
I think I found the source of your problems....

Originally Posted by wtd
Last week the right rear wheel kept locking up on my 92 Cavalier when applying the brakes ....

28.gif


Nailed it


Asinine comment.


The later cavaliers were my rental of choice. Nice driving vehicle unlike garbage Hondas or Camry of the same period.
 
Originally Posted by wtd
.... I spent about an hour beating on the drum and using a lot of penetrant before it came off. It was rusted on good. The last time I messed with the rear brakes on this car was almost 14 years ago when I put new pads and wheel cylinders in on both sides ...

.


Old shadetree trick is to loosen the lug nuts a couple treads off the wheel, then take her for a vigorous drive
down rattlesnake road. that usually does it

Other thing is to inspect the brakes more often. Don't want a big ridge in that drum w/ a rusted adjuster.

But with that many cars, I can see how some get missed.

They used to take brakes drums off here to inspect during annual safety inspection.

One dope garage down the street ruined my wife's rear brakes on her junk Civic doing something wrong.

Good luck. - Ken
 
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Strangely related:

I purchased a 1971 Cessna 177RG back in 2007. Flew it home and took it apart. Not one part was good. Not one. I don't really think a 30 year old car, driven in a harsh environment should be any different.

It took me 2 years to get that plane flying again. I suspect your Chevy needs a similar level of "overhaul".

I've been flying the Cessna since 2009. It's been quite reliable, but after 11 years of operation, it needs some work now.


www.cujet.com is a simple website that documents the aircraft overhaul.
 
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