TIP - Pulling Rear Brake Drum

Technical info on the Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix including do-it-yourself info
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joatmon
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Joined: Fri Mar 21, 2003 5:19 am
Location: SMC MD

TIP - Pulling Rear Brake Drum

Post by joatmon »

My 03 Vibe is at ~128K miles, so I figured it must be time to deal with the rear brake shoes. There are several threads here at genvibe where people have said they had great difficulty removing the rear brake drums, and I confess, those suckers are really on there. However, I noticed that there are two threaded holes in the brake drum, and as luck would have it, I had two bolts of the right size/thread. Running the bolts in pushes against the hub, draws the drum off nicely. Just be sure to alternate, a half turn on each, untl it pulls off.I do not know what size the bolts are, but I did confirm that they are the exact same size/thread as the gray plastic disk that holds the inner tray in place above the spare tire, under the rear deck. If you need to pull your rear brake drums off and don't have the right size bolts, take that gray disk into a hardware store to match with a pair of bolts. (or use that disk to verify that you do have the right size bolts)EDIT Per vibecrxsi240sxse in http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=35675 the threaded holes are metric, size M8-1.25Here is a picture showing the removed brake drum with the bolts I used, Also inset is a snap of the tray above the spare, showing the gray disk I mentioned, and a snap of the inner surface of the brake drum, which had no significant grooving/wear

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joatmon
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Re: TIP - Pulling Rear Brake Drum

Post by joatmon »

In case it can be useful for anyone later, here is a pic of the rear brake drum setup. THis pic is of the passenger side, the driver side is a mirror image layout.At the bottom of the pic is an inset showing the existing brake shoes, and the brand new shoes I bougth to put on. After seeing how the factory original brake shoes were still effectively the same thickness as the new shoes I had bought, I didn't see any reason to replace the factory shoes. I had thought that after 128,000 miiles, the shoes would need to be replaced, but I was wrong. I guess I'll look at them again when I hit 250K miles

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zionzr2
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Post by zionzr2 »

Thats a great tip! I'll have to try that when i need to get to my brakes. I'm only at 30,000 miles so I have a long way to go b4 i get to 128K. I may need to do a clean and an adjust so that tip should come in handy.
jsimon63
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Joined: Fri Sep 29, 2006 10:53 am

Post by jsimon63 »

This is a good tip and it works really well! The Bolt size you are using is 5/16-18 with about 1 1/2 inches of threads to be safe. I thought they would be metric so I checked the thread count and ran them through a 5/16-18 die by hand to be sure.
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WaveAction
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Post by WaveAction »

great tip, i hate doing rear drum brakes
northvibe
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Post by northvibe »

totally amazing tip, when i did my rears i used this tip!! worked great
cgergeni
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Re: (jsimon63)

Post by cgergeni »

I am having to do it for the first time at 385,000. On a 2004 Vibe AWD. The best car I have ever had.
keithvibe
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Re: (cgergeni)

Post by keithvibe »

Quote, originally posted by cgergeni »I am having to do it for the first time at 385,000. On a 2004 Vibe AWD. The best car I have ever had.how are you keeping track of mileage, with the odom. stopping at 299,999?You are the first AWD car I heard of with the high mileage. Good for you! Any major issues in your ownership of the car?
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