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Brakes
Nov 17, 2010 20:06:38 GMT -5
Post by MugRB on Nov 17, 2010 20:06:38 GMT -5
I got my car back. The brakes work again. But also reminded on other rusty parts that may break in the near future. Kinda makes ya leery in driving the car for a while. Especially driving 40 miles north and 40 miles back home. Eighty miles round trip. Will have no choice when the snow flies and piles up. The Cavalier is allot better driving in the snow and ice than the Ranger is.
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Brakes
Nov 21, 2010 10:03:18 GMT -5
Post by MugRB on Nov 21, 2010 10:03:18 GMT -5
Went to work on the brakes as anyone who has been in my car and drove it says the rear brake drum/shoes need to be replaced. So I started on that yesterday. I spent over an hour on just one wheel. It normally takes me not more than 20 minutes per wheel working on the rear drums. I got new drums and shoes, plus the hardware kit. I had issues with one hold down spring for the secondary shoe. The secondary shoe is towards the back of the car. The spring I had compressed all the way down and the pin was too short. So when I remove the star wheel adjuster lever and link, then I could compress the hold down spring and attach the pin. But as it stands now the driver's side rear wheel will not adjust automatically as I have the lever removed in order to attach the hold down spring.
So early this morning I reviewed the parts bag for the hardware. I have four hold down springs, two of which are painted yellow and the other two green. Cannot tell which is the difference as the two yellow hold down springs are on the driver's side rear brake. But I'm thinking that maybe there is a difference in the length of the four springs. The green may be used for the secondary shoe and they yellow for the primary shoe. Unlike in the past where there was a piece of paper that told you which spring goes to what part or the parts bags are separate from each wheel. It is now a guessing game as to what color goes where. The green pulling springs are for the upper return springs and the red one is the return spring that mounts by the star wheel adjuster. Then there are white pull spring and black pull springs that don't look like they go to my car. They do not match any of the pull springs that came off of the old shoes. So it must be a universal parts hardware kit.
May work on that car again today. Going to need it ASAP as snow is forecasted for this week. Need to rotate the tires too.
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Brakes
Nov 21, 2010 10:34:57 GMT -5
Post by red on Nov 21, 2010 10:34:57 GMT -5
You may want to change that spring. I think there is a difference.
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Brakes
Nov 21, 2010 19:10:40 GMT -5
Post by MugRB on Nov 21, 2010 19:10:40 GMT -5
Yes, there is a huge difference. One has less turns and bulges outward when compressed. The passenger side went incredibly too fast. Driver's side is done right. My Cavalier now has new shoes and new drums. Though the wheel cylinders don't seem like they work right. Driver's side sort of work alright. Passenger side (as looking at it) left rod is frozen and the right rod works fine. Both drums were warm after backing up quickly and hitting the brakes hard. That is the only way to adjust the rear shoes. There is no access hole to manually turn the star wheel adjuster.
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Brakes
Nov 29, 2010 19:11:59 GMT -5
Post by red on Nov 29, 2010 19:11:59 GMT -5
Well, if the wheel cylinders aren't working right, then the brakes won't be as good as they should be. But I also understand that being a Winter Beater you don't want to soak allot of dough into that car either. All based on the condition of the car too.
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Brakes
Jul 9, 2011 21:05:37 GMT -5
Post by MugRB on Jul 9, 2011 21:05:37 GMT -5
Well, today I FINALLY worked on the brake on my pickup. It turn out to be the easiest front disc brakes I have ever worked on. It took me a maximum for 30 minutes to replace the pads, rotors, wheel bearings and seals per side. So my pickup now has new pads, new rotors, new bearings and new seals. Should be good from quite a long time. Best part was I didn't spend no $120 per rotor like some other places were going to charge me. Claiming that the rotor and hub are one unit and that my truck has anti-lock braking system. The rotor and hub are common on most, if not all rear wheel drive only trucks. Four wheel drive trucks usually have a separate rotor from the hub. This other place I went to, the total cost was $132 and some odd cents. That includes the rotors, bearings, seals and two large cans of brake cleaner. Attachments:
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