Hello all

I’m in the middle of a brake job and I’ve run into a problem I can’t solve. I changed my parking brake shoes, and now the rotor/drum won’t fit back over the shoes! The books say what to do for the type with a screw to adjust how far apart the shoes are, but I couldn’t figure out what to do for my type where the shoes are held apart by a solid metal piece. I did loosen up the cable from the center console adjuster as much as possible and that’s still not enough. Does anyone know if you can replace the solid metal piece with the star gear/ adjustable spreader piece? And if so, where do you get a couple of those? I’ve never seen an adjustable one, so I don’t know if it’s different enough that the parts aren’t interchangeable. If a retrofit isn’t possible, what are my other options? I never thought about this a being a problem, but it seems like it must be something others have encountered. Thanks everyone!!

-colbi

I did this same job a little while ago, and ran into the same problem. The other posts have some good suggestions, you have to check to make sure the shoes are retracted all the way. Wiggle the bar around to see if there is a little more room for the pads to retract.

In my case, the shoes were snug with the bar, and they were both touching the solid "block" part where the lever mechanism sits. So they weren't getting any closer together than that. I had to grind down the ends of the shoes a little bit at a time until the rotor would go over them. The shoes I had were the Textar brand. Is that what you've got?

Hope this helps!
Greg

If it's not the bar, and the levers are free, try slacking off the parking brake cable adjuster inside the center console. I think that you can access the adjuster through the rear ashtray.

Its not the bar, its your lever. They rust up and then will not retract fully. If you look on the lever there is a stop pin on it. With new pads it has to be retracted to the stop. Also the shoes at the bottom should almost be hitting the stop. I file the rust out of the lever and keep working it back and forth until it moves freely again. If you have the right pads, and you can't get the rotor on you have not got the lever retracted enough.

I had the same problem. Definitely make sure the cable is loose. Under the rear ashtray you have to loosen that bolt way off, more than you might think you need to. It will be a little tight trying to get the drum back on. I did this a while ago but I think I remember trying fit the drum on from the bottom up. Then someone standing over my shoulder noticed the spring and suggested I try it from the top down. Next thing I knew we were test driving.