Rear Brakes

I decided to tackle getting those rear brake cylinders today.  They're on the rear axle, which is on a shelf, so it's not the most convenient place to work.

It wasn't too hard to get the drums off.  Loosen the adjusting screws (that wasn't easy), then unscrew both retaining screws (forgot about the second one), then separate the drum from the axle (by prying gently, then less gently, then prying while hitting it with a hammer to break it loose from the axle), and it's just that easy.

 

The drums are pretty well shot.  I'm kind of surprised by this.  I only put 10,000 miles on them.  I think I'll have to replace them and the rear brake shoes.  Bummer.

Once the drums came off, the brakes came apart pretty easily (really), and the wheel cylinders unclipped and came free. When I got them to the bench, I couldn't budge the pistons, so I figured they were junk.  Why not wrench on them and see how bad they are?  Well, they actually came apart easily, and didn't look bad at all.  A little work with a scrub pad and the brake cylinder hone, and I think they're good enough to rebuild.  So I'll order rebuild kits.  They're the expensive Lockheed cylinders, so yeah.

 

I also disassembled the pedal box.  It wasn't as nice as I thought it was.