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i have a caprice classic that i took to a shop and he said that my backing plate was bad on my right rear drum brake. a month later it snapped in two and i had trouble getting it home now it sets since it broke.
the question was:
if a backing plate breaks what would go with it? i personally think the mechanic lied to me about everything that broke too. he says the hub is ruined and the rear-end is ruined and he wanted to buy it for parts. i said no im going to fix it but im wondering what would actually go if it did break because the part dosent seem to be a big deal to me?
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To change the backing plate the axle-shaft needs to be removed. When the plate broke the shoes likely spun in the drum tearing everything up inside there. It could very well be that the rear end is now junk as he said, if it broke with enough pressure on it the bearing could have cracked/snapped.
Of course this is assuming that the car is the same as your profile picture with rear wheel drive, Some info on the year of your car would help.
Well, I just saw a car blow two tires at once. What’s the chances of that? So, anything is possible. What is likely is that you need a new backing plate. The only way to know is to look if you don’t trust your mechanic.
[Edit] To be fair about it sometimes finding out what is wrong is more work than the repair. Take you brake problem. It may be that getting it apart could be quite a job. So then you decide not to do it or maybe take it somewhere else. In that case a wise mechanic would quote the worst case scenario and then surprise you with a smaller bill.
I love it when a technician tells a customer about an imminent problem and they don’t believe them, SHEESH! I guess it’s gonna cost more now.
i have a 1990 caprice classic rear wheel drive with a 305 small block. all i know about the rear end is that its a overdrive 10 bolt. And the mechanic is a dick where i live, he charges to high and sneaks parts off of cars when they get repaired, he has a bad reputation. but he is the only mechanic where i live.
the car is in mint shape, and all original besides the satellite radio. he changes the story every time i go in with the car too the first time i went to him he said the backing plate was broke and he fixed it as a temporary repair and it cracked in half a month later. he says he cant fix it because its welded there and its not welded on he lied and i cant move it from the shop because the tires mysteriously went flat overnight and its too far for him to bring out the air hose and he wont even let me start it unless i am taking it home, i find this kinda weird?.
It’s really difficult to say without seeing it. As pointed out if the backing plate breaks it can cause other damage. Once again without seeing that damage it’s really difficult to say.
Your issue is unfortunate but it sounds like the first step is to get in there and see what the issue really is and assess the damage. Once you’ve done that, you can then figure out how to repair it.
Good luck and keep us posted.
here is the car with the broken backing plate off of it and i got a good view of the hub. nothing seems to be damaged besides the cables so im going to grind the rest of the backing plate off and see where i can get a new one.
i added some pictures of what the car looks like too.Given the amount of rust and the damage to the parking brake cable, I’m not surprised you’re having issues. You might want to start over with all new parts including the backing plate. The shoes need to move freely in order to work properly.
Do us a favor—
Whatever you do on the busted side? Do on the good side.
When one goes—the other isn’t far behind.
And yes, I’ve seen backing plates hose themselves. Back when I turned a wrench professionally we did a large number of GM products for backing plates. It’s was either rust–or the wheel cylinders kicking free in the mount.
Keep us posted!
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i just bought a universal backing plate for the car and it dont seem to fit? i measured it, and the bolt holes are closer together than the mounting plate should i drill the backing plate to fit?
If i cant where can i buy a backing plate to fit i cant find any junk yard that has this kind of car or any website where i can buy the plate? kind of stuck on what to doI have NOT used this as a parts source. Just a general search for a 1990 Caprice rear brake backing plate.
You’ll need to know if you have a 9 1/2″ or an 11″ rear brake size.
Again…General source I found online. It states discontinued—but it still allows to be put in the shopping cart. I have to wonder if that points towards NOS (new old stock)
Also please DO NOT forget to check dealerships. Many Many and Many times dealerships have NOS parts in the warehouse that may have been forgotten about. (This is how I found an EGR plate for a 75 F250 we did a restoration on. We tracked down the part number and had a friend at a parts dept for Ford look it up…a dealership 50 miles north? Had one sitting around collecting dust)
As for why it might not fit? Drum size incorrect?
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I don’t think universal parts are going to work here. I would suggest getting parts that are designed to work with your vehicle for the easiest repair. Otherwise, you may find yourself doing modifications to make things work. That’s never fun, especially when the original parts are still available. That was a common vehicle, a fleet vehicle at that, I’m sure you won’t have too much trouble tracking down parts for it.
yeah you make since but im having soo much trouble finding the part i have the correct part numbers and i used links people offered me,i looked around and called junk yards and i looked everywhere my self even just goggled the part number but everything i find is discontinued and i cant get it i don’t know why the dam thing is so hard to find i mean i can get any amount of drums for the car but no backing plate to go with them
part numbers that i got are
# 18014440
and # 18013844
and the universal part # is 924220
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