Drum brakes are all too often neglected to the point of becoming dangerous. In my younger days I had a VW Rabbit. I put tens of thousands of miles on that little car. I was always working on it, too. Sometimes it was by choice, other times it was me and the tool kit on the side of the road. But I did try to keep up with the maintenance to scare away the repair demons. I had very little extra money in those days, so if something could wait, it did. Unfortunately I convince myself that replacing my rear brakes could always wait. After all, 80% or so of your braking is done with the front wheels. And I didn't really need a parking brake. So I let them wear down, all the way down. Reality hit me one sunny afternoon when I was cruising down a big hill with a stop sign at the bottom. My brake pedal went to the floor, and I calmly turned to my passenger, Vernon, and whispered, "No brakes." I flew through the intersection and miraculously there were no cars in any of the four lanes I had to cross at full speed. When I coasted to a stop and saw brake fluid puddling around one of my rear wheels. With the wheel and brake drum removed I could see that the rear drums had become so neglected that my rear wheel cylinder blew right out. After all, what reason did it have to stay sealed? Anyway, since that day, I always remind people to service your rear drum brakes!
Top Related Searches drum brakes
Explore Auto Repair
As of 1968, all vehicles sold in the U.S. are required to have a dual circuit brake system. Unless you have a leak in both circuits or your master cylinder seals blow at the same time, you can’t have a “no brake condition”. You still have mechanical control of the rear brakes using the parking brake. You have half your normal braking power. It is a scary ride, but don’t panic. Get off the gas pedal, down shift your transmission, slowly apply the parking brake without locking the rear wheels, pump your brakes to get some pressure back. Avoid hitting any thing solid.
Drum brakes were once common on all wheels of light vehicles. But now they are less commonly used. Less pressure is needed to stop the vehicle. Sometimes drum brakes fade because of overheating, this is the main disadvantage of drum brakes.
I have a 92 Toyota Tercel I have replace bearing 3 time on right rear and I cant figure out why tire is crooked and keeps coming loose. I put on new Drums, bearings and Axil bolt. can someone give some advise