1990 240DL Sedan, ~155K miles. The rear brakes were last done in 2004 at 98K miles; the parking brakes have never been done. I will replace the pads, rotors, calipers (I think the outer piston was seized), and the parking brake shoes.

I started on the right side since this is where I was hearing lots of noise when I turned the wheel by hand. No major problems dismantling the parts. However, when I took the rotor off, the friction material on both parking brake shoes just fell out. This might explain the clunk I was hearing shortly after releasing the parking brake.

I dismantled the brake shoes, and decided to reassemble them as practice for when my parts arrive. I followed advice found in this and other forums - loosened the 17 mm adjustor accessed via the cigarette tray on the console between the front seats, put the smaller spring and 'H' shaped plate on the old shoes (no star wheel adjustor on my car), and put the brake shoes back into the large spring clips with the correct ends on the actuator.

Then the fun began. I spent 5 hours trying to get the bottom spring attached. I tried all the methods suggested - screw drivers, needle node pliers, diagonal cutter, and a set of pliers which come bent at the end. Nothing worked.

Arg! It shouldn't be this difficult.

So I'm now on to Plan B, but have no idea what that might be.

- Any suggestions for resolving this 'rite of passage' as I've seen it referred to? The rest of the job is trivial, but getting this spring back on is a bear.

- Also, anyone in the southern NH area who has put these springs back on, and can do a show and tell? I'll by the beer.

- And an easy question. I'm getting new hardware (pad springs, caliper retainer pins and caliper bolts). Should I also replace the brake shoe springs?

thanks