I berking hate drum brakes.

I like drum brakes, I changed the drums on my pickup and they are pretty simple. I don't think you can be a car guy and hate drum brakes, the worst part is adjusting them after installation. I think drum brakes are like everything in life, peoples lack of planning and preparation doing the job gives poor and frustrating results. People get the shoes and just expect to throw them on without adjustment and without knowledge of drum brake mechanism then bitch and moan about the design rather than their lack of preparation. It is expected if you tackle a mechanical job that you understand the principals, if you don't understand the principals don't expect a job to easily complete itself.

man, I stinking hate drum brakes and I went and bought a car that has berkeleying four of them

I just replaced the rear shoes and found out that the passenger side had an old set, and the drivers side had a new set! (previously I had only seen the passenger side shoes which, luckily enough was the "more worn" side).

I had been meaning to get inside the brakes and adjust them for a long time. The previous owner had them wound so danged tight that every time I thought about pressing the middle pedal I ended up with a steering wheel in my mouth and the car darted to the left. The rear shoe replacement seemed to solve both issues, but I still need to look at the fronts... and I think the booster is leaking...

Trans_Maro wrote: Any resolution to this? I'm curious about what was the final result. Shawn

Final result is not quite what I had hoped. I had planned on attacking this myself with a new cylinder ($11 at Advanzedpepzone) and a determination to finish the damn thing. Then we found out that she had to go on a trip on Saturday (today), and we didn't have time for me to berk it up again. As unlikely as it might have been, I already did it once.

Luckily, I found out she has AAA, so we had it towed to the shop and they finished the job for me.

Lesson learned: Don't berkeley with the SO's car, take it to the trusted pro. I can get by without a car much easier, and since she can't drive stick, she can't use mine while hers is out.

In reply to mtn:

Dang, I was hoping you'd be able to stick it out and finish the job.

Better luck next time man!

Shawn

just how hard is it to learn to drive a manual ?

Trans_Maro wrote: In reply to mtn: Dang, I was hoping you'd be able to stick it out and finish the job. Better luck next time man! Shawn

I was too. I seemingly always have trouble with brakes, although the time before this was not my fault--living in the rust belt sucks. When we finally got the rotors off, it sounded like a bomb went off.

wbjones wrote: just how hard is it to learn to drive a manual ?

Not that hard, but I'm not pushing it. She attempted it on the SAAB 9-5 and E30, but the Miata scares her. Seeing as it is set up pretty loose and the clutch is on the way out, I'm not fighting it. It is really a lost cause, she comes from a family that has 2 Camry's, a Corolla, and a 4Runner. And I've offended them before when I referred to the Camry's as Camry's. Apparently a Lexus Camry isn't a Camry, and a Camry Solara is a Solara, not a Camry.

The 3 times that she's tried to drive stick, the first time you'd have thought she'd been driving it for years. The 2nd time she was awful. Absolutely awful. The 3rd time, I let my little brother teach her and she did pretty good. But she has refused to attempt it since then.

Don't blame simple effective drum brakes for your own ignorance. They are easy to service if you bother to read a manual and they generally offer much more effective emergency/parking brakes. I intentionally left drums on the rear of my last project as I wanted a hand brake that would hold without slipping. I've only got 3 cars left with any drums on them but I value their virtues.

I taught my wife to drive stick, she's good at it now and won't have anything else.

The downside is, teaching her must've taken ten years off my life.