Rear Drum Brakes on 89 RT4WD

cogito

I recently had my front brake pads replaced and since I cannot ever remember replacing the rear shoes, and the car has over 130K miles on it, I thought it might be a good time to check out the shoes for wear. But the mechanic said it was a big deal to pull the drums off, and wanted some exorbitant fee just to do that, to check the shoes for wear. I didn't know if he was right or not, so when I got home I looked at my online manual, which somebody around here was giving away a couple years ago; but apparently it came with an 88 CRX, which has discs on the back. So, my question is: How do you pull the rear drums, and is it the huge pain in the ass that the mechanic implied it was, or is he offbase? The shoes don't seem to be causing any problems yet, they may still be OK. Do they have those builtin chirpers that start making sounds when the shoe is getting close to worn out?

Layspeed

Assuming the drums aren't seized onto the hub, a swift whack with a hammer and they should pop right off. Even at 130K miles, you'd be surprised at how long a set of rear shoes actually lasts. If it is somewhat stuck, there are two threaded holes in the drums for you to insert a couple 8mm x 1.25 bolts to help pull the drum off the hub.

cogito

So, it's no big deal. I think the guy tried to get them off, and didn't have any luck, so he decided it was going to be a big job.

503Wagon

yeah man. pulling rear drums is like a five minute thing. unless the bolts are stripped out, in which it becomes like a ten minute thing...i think he waS just lazy.

Layspeed

Lazy or incompetent.

markl

I agree, your mechanic takes shortcuts.

Removing the Drums is easy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po-WXqIKjHQ