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When I replaced my wheel cylinders they were very cheap. Anything leaking in the brake system seems high priority imo. The brake line fittings can be a challenge though so give the a good soak with rust penetrant and use heat if you can.
Quoted From Rick:
When I replaced my wheel cylinders they were very cheap. Anything leaking in the brake system seems high priority imo. The brake line fittings can be a challenge though so give the a good soak with rust penetrant and use heat if you can.
I don’t know that I would use heat around brake fluid, as it is flammable. However, I agree that leaking brake parts are way up there on the priority list. Use penetrating oil as suggested and line wrenches. If the lines are all rusty going into the cylinders, be prepared to replace them as well. If you haven’t seen it already, here’s Eric’s video on drum brake replacement:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCpCkun2qxA
Good luck, and welcome to the forums!
Personally speaking, whenever I’ve owned a car with drum brakes I always replaced the wheel cylinders and attaching hardware whenever I was replacing the shoes. I did it more for my own peace of mind, since I figured that the $30 I spent on two wheel cylinders was a lot less than the cost of repairing my car after I wrapped it around something solid because the brakes failed on me.
If the wheel cylinders are leaking brake fluid onto the rear brake shoes, the shoes will need to be replaced.
This is because the brake fluid will absorb into the brake shoes. You may think you can clean the shoes off but as you brake, the heat cause by braking causes the fluid to boil in the shoes causing it to rise to the top of the friction surface causing brake fade.
I always replace the brake hardware any time the brake shoes are removed. Don’t forget to lube the contact points the shoes ride on.
And for your drums, i would measure them to make sure there within machining specification so you can have them resurfaced.
For me, brakes are the most important thing on a vehicle. A vehicle that doesn’t run, or overheats, or runs poorly can’t kill someone. A vehicle with brake failure can. If there’s a leak in the system then that would take priority over anything else, and wheel cylinders aren’t that expensive. It looks like just one is bad – so you can decide whether to do both or just the leaky one. Be careful when you go to unscrew the brake line @ the cylinder, they like to stick and you may end up shearing off the line making more work for yourself. Sometimes it’s better to just unbolt the cylinder and try to turn the cylinder while holding the fitting with a line wrench.
Every vehicle I have owned with drum brakes eventually starts to make a squeaking noise when applying and releasing the brakes. It’s caused by the rubbing of the brake shoe against the backing plate. Just take the brakes apart, clean everything, and apply a brake grease or antiseize SPARINGLY to the contact surfaces. You will be all set for the next 50k miles.
thanks for the responses. i guess i’ll go ahead and do it. cyl are $30 for the pair. the lines are not rusted and i have line wrenches. it just sucks because the shoes have alot of material still on them. do wheel cyl always go bad so quickly? the previous owner changed them with the shoes 70k ago.
i think i’m going to change the wheel cyl and clean/lube the backing plate and skip the shoes and turning drums. silly question but if i spray brake cleaner on the shoe material it won’t hurt it or dry it out will it? i mean, i won’t drench it or anything but just spray around it maybe getting on it alitle.
The only few reasons a wheel cylinder will fail is because of issues with the self adjust function of the drum hardware or that the wheel cylinders are won.
For me, most causes for failed wheel cylinders are due to to issues with the self adjust system of the brake hardware as stated above.
There should not be any reason to be spraying brake cleaner on new brake shoes however. Try to make sure you don’t not get any grease or anti-seize of them if you use it.
Eric has a few video’s on drum replacements. Here is one of them –
http://www.youtube.com/user/EricTheCarG … OvSH-mLhRE
Make sure you DO however spray down new drums if you get them. They have an anti-rusting chemical on them (forget the name) that needs to be cleaned off before the install. Creotene? Cialis? Something like that…
Quoted From Beefy:
Make sure you DO however spray down new drums if you get them. They have an anti-rusting chemical on them (forget the name) that needs to be cleaned off before the install. Creotene? Cialis? Something like that…
Cosmoline V-)
When you buy your new wheel cylinders, be sure and take one to the store if you are going to an Advanced Auto or similar store. The cylinder needs to fit perfectly as there is no much wiggle room for the connections and bolts.
I did a change on a Honda Civic awhile back and ended up having to buy the brake cylinders from the dealer because the ones from AA did not fit right, even though it said it would for that model. Some parts just have to be OEM and from the dealer.
I would say you would only need to replace the wheel cylinder that is leaking. BTW you can replace the wheel cylinder without having to remove the rear brakes just crank the adjuster out all the way and you’ll be able to remove the wheel cylinder. That said if you are certain the noise is coming from the rear brakes you could replace them but keep in mind that not all brakes are created equal and most cheep shoes make noise so if you bite the bullet on this one (by the looks of the shoes you have I don’t think you need to replace them as there seems to be plenty of friction material left) be sure to use quality parts. If you don’t think the noise is coming from the rear brakes then perhaps just clean the area with brake cleaner and replace the affected cylinder.
ok, i’m changing everything. Have it all disassembled. I mangled the spring taking it off. I did buy new springs/hardware though. Question: On Erics vid, when he went to reassemble, he put the spring on on the same side where the adjuster is which was at the bottom. On mine, the adjusters at the top. Does that mean i need to put the bottom spring on last? Is there a rule of thumb? The bottom spring is shorter so obviously harder to put back on.
edit: thanks Eric, I missed your reply. I ended up buying shoes and turning the drums and buying a pair of cyls. The front shoe on one side had less than 50% left so i just decided to go ahead and change everything.
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