My G/f has a 1996 Honda Accord EX with Discs in the front and drums in the rear. She has a horrible squeeling noise coming from the rear of her car. I know its her rear brakes because there was 30% left when she got the car 6 months ago and she drives like a maniac. I just want to know if doing the drum brakes myself is doable for someone who has done some brake work before but its only been on Disc brakes.

 

Got a repair manual? If not, go to a parts site like hondaautomotiveparts.com & look at the parts drawings.



If you've done disk brakes before, you'll probably be OK. You're not in the rust belt, so maybe the drum won't be rusted onto the hub. If the shoes have worn a groove into the drum, there's gonna be a ridge that can trap the shoes & hold the drum on. The trick is to turn the adjuster wheel (#20 & #26) to let the shoes come in towards the center. That's kinda like how you have to compress the piston a bit in order to get the caliper off.

 

When I did the drums on my girls Jimmy, I bought this set of tools that made the job easier IMO. I'm actually going to be doing the drums on my 92 Civic probably this weekend.

 

Drums are Pretty easy, Just go to an auto parts tore and get the spring retainer tool, ( its a tool that puts on and removes a retainer from number 32...makes it a hell of alot easier.

And if its been a while since the rears have been done, and the drum wont come off you can hit around the rear and lightly all around it and try to knock it off

Or you can use the adjuster, which u can reach from behind the assembly and losen to make the pads losen off the drum wall

 

Why not drive the drum off with the threaded holes?
12mm bolt screws right in.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hondadude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Why not drive the drum off with the threaded holes?
12mm bolt screws right in.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I can remember doing that on my (T100 truck I think). Didn't even think about trying to adjust the shoes in. Is there a hole in the dust shield to adjust from the back side?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TouringAccord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When I did the drums on my girls Jimmy, I bought this set of tools that made the job easier IMO. I'm actually going to be doing the drums on my 92 Civic probably this weekend.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I just did my front and rear brakes on my Civic yesterday. Don't waste your money on that kit I recommended in my earlier post. I didn't look at the diagram that closely, it doesn't use the same parts that the tool set is for. You can remove parts #31 and #32 easily with a screw drive (flat head) and pliers (needles nose). Just push the clip in with the screw drive to relieve pressure from the pin, then turn the pin with the pliers and release the clip and it's apart. Do the same for assembly. Also, be sure to get a hardware kit as well, it's new pins, retaining clips and springs.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by BLKFLSH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I can remember doing that on my (T100 truck I think). Didn't even think about trying to adjust the shoes in. Is there a hole in the dust shield to adjust from the back side?</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes, there should be a rectangular shaped rubber plug towards the top of the dust shield on the back side. You'll know it when you see it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TouringAccord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

yes, there should be a rectangular shaped rubber plug towards the top of the dust shield on the back side. You'll know it when you see it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, it took me quite a while to inch the drum off. I'll have to store that tidbit of information in the memory bank (my head), or somewhere more permanent, like the service manual. Whenever I've done drum brakes, I always jack up the whole rear, so I can look at the opposite side when reassembling, if there is no picture or manual. My father's 71 Impala was a blast.