Hey guys,

I havent really worked on drum brakes so I was hoping others could help me out on this one.

Right now I am trying to take off the drum brake assembly so I can disconnect the parking brake cable (im fixing my trailing arm bushing so i need to take that off) but I am having trouble getting the assembly off.

The part that I am stuck on is taking off the lower return spring. Is there any special trick or tool that is needed to take this off? the way the spring is, it looks like needle nose players wont be able to do the job...it just slips off. I think before on my drivers side, when I tried to take the return spring off, i just lowered the brake assembly and squeezed the two pads together and the return spring just came loose and I was able to take it off. This side (passenger side) seems to have a block between the two brake pads so squeezing them together to relieve the tension on the return spring is impossible.

Any help or advice would be very much appreciated!


Here is a screen shot from the Civic Honda Service Manual:

 

Good explications

 

After removing the tension pins, lower the entire brake shoe assembly as a unit and then pull it forward. This should relieve tension from the spring.

 

When I changed my drum shoes I just pulled really hard with needle nose pliers and the spring popped off.

You can't really be too rough with drum brakes it seems.

Just be careful not to damage the seal on the cylinder at the top. And if you pop it off make sure you bleed the brakes when your finished.

 

Thanks, Ill try that out and see how it works out.

 

Now I am having trouble removing the parking brake from the brake housing. I have it disconnected from the brake assembly, i just need to get it out off the backing plate.

It looks like there are metal wings that pop out which is keeping the brake cable inside the housing. Is there a trick for this?

 

92-95 Civics:

 

thanks for the info. My civic is a 99. it has these fins that spread out when its put into the backing plate. it looks like i have to compress these fins to fit backwards through the hole but it seems impossible for me to do. been trying to get them to stay in but they keep popping out.

 

What I posted is actually the same for 96-00 Civics: