Hi,
New to the forum.. not new to drum brakes. Never liked them, but i have changed them on 50+ vehicles, and NEVER had such a hard time. Dont understand why honda used, and still uses the archaic drum brakes... especially these miniature ones that are so difficult to work on, and cannot possibly add much braking power to the vehicle. I used to praize honda engineering..... but my opinion is changing. Never have I seen such a poorly designed brake assembly. SHAME ON HONDA!!! How much extra would it cost to use disc brakes??? Had the cylinder explode twice now, spraying brake fluid all over my newly painted backing plates... makes that effort feel like a waste. Never had cylinders pop apart trying to get the springs in place... really frustrating!!!! Would be nice if maintenance was a consideration in their design. Maybe I should see if Toyota is any better...problably not... Profit is all that matters. Yay Capitalism! %$&*!!!!

 

You are doing it wrong.

 

I was doing it wrong.. Finally got a good method. Have to assemble it in just the right order. Also a pair of "good" brske shoe spring pliers is a must. Most of the cheap tools have way too large of hooks to be useful for any brake work.

 

What brake shoe spring pliers did you use?

 

Hi,

I was using a pair from Napa, but really struggled with them. The pair I had at my old shop was problably from the 1940's and had solid round handles, real smoothly tapered sharp points, and a tightly wound hook. That pair always worked great. I doubt if you will be able to find a new pair of that quality, but perhaps an ebay search might find one of the "good old pair". I dont envy you having to work on drum brakes, and wish you luck! On the bright side, at least a new set of rear shoes on these cars should last 100k+.