A few tips on the rear brakes: 1. I use a technique of leaving the springs on and carefully (removing the clips) pulling the shoes out of their respective slots using a lever (screwdriver), both top and bottom. Then I carefully remove each spring and place it on the new shoes sitting in the same pattern, then ease the new shoes + springs onto the slots where they belong. If you get stuck, use the other drum as a reference.
2. Definitely replace the slave cylinders if they're the originals. 3. Once the job is done and daily driving causes the shoes to wear down over time, try this technique for getting the auto-adjusters to do their job: locate an empty parking garage, drive up one of the ramps, let the car roll backward about 2/3 the way down (looking for other cars of course!), then stand on the brake pedal. You will feel the mush get tighter after the second or third round, then your rears are all adjusted. George '89 DX-Hybrid-D16Z6, 121k miles "Seats, Suspension, Engine, MSD, next=dyno" -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]On Behalf Of Robert K. Kuhn Sent: Tuesday, June 25, 2002 11:59 AM To: The Rex list Cc: where the hooligan's are! Subject: Re: CRX: changing rear drum brake shoes tomoorrow On 10:50 PM 06/24/02 -0700, Kristian Hoffmann said... >Look into getting the spring kit for the rear drums. There are 4-5 >springs per side that can snap if they're really old. Make sure you have >a good set of needle nose plyers and a shop manual. Besides that, do one >side at a time. There are a lot of little pieces that just fall out when >you unload the springs and guessing where they go is no fun at all. > >-Kristian > >On Mon, 24 Jun 2002 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > im no mech....so here it goes....i bought the shoes but nothing > more....i was > > planning on buying some brake fluid, bleeding the brakes and replacing the > > fluid...but besides that im in the dark....anything else i NEED to get > while > > im doing this???? > > > > thanks ronnie > > 88 si > > Kristian makes a very good recommendation. Whenever I did a "brake job" on my past cars, I would also get the "rebuild" kit which was basically the items that Kristian listed. There's also a drum brake tool which is suppose to help with pulling the springs but I found that using basic leverage with a flat blade screw driver works just as well. There has been times where I've had to use both a flat blade and a pair of pliers to pull a spring just a quarter inch. :^P I've never done a CRX rear drum brake before but I can't see it being all that exotic from some of the past cars I've done. I don't recall if yours has the adjusting star (on our Audi 4000, it was self adjusting which was really sweet ~ drive forward a few feet, depress the brakes lightly, drive backwards and depress the brakes lightly and repeat this about three times and increase the braking pressure each time and you're done...). If you do have an adjusting star (or something similar) be sure to adjust it as per the service manual. Another area to look into replacing would be the brake cylinders. These are little pistons which actually move the shoes outwards towards to drum surface. If there are any signs of leakage or if they are not operating properly (i.e.: Not extending out far enough, sticking or not retracting back) then replace them at this point. I don't know what they normally sell for but I can't image they're all that much, $25 (USD) or so would be my guess. I would also check the condition of your rear brake lines. If they look worn, replace them now. Again, if you can swing the cost of stainless steel lines, go for it. However, since it's the rears, it's probably won't provide that much added braking performance other than it's overall longevity (and they look cool too...). Now, I have been told by other Honda CRX owners (with stock rear drums) who have upgraded their rear lines to the stainless steel ones who have said that they did feel a more positive feel at the pedal. And as for the replacing of the fluid... if you're thinking about doing a flush of the system and refilling it, this can be a major chore and if you don't do it properly you can damage your master cylinder via the plunger. It can also be a very LONG process. The best way to get the old fluid out of the system is to *blow* it out using an air compressor. But you have be careful when doing so. Most air compressors have oil in them (to keep the tools and attachments from rusting) and you DON'T want that in your brake lines! Some air compressors will cool the lines and water condensation can occur inside the line ~ again, something you DON'T want in your brake lines. You can use the master cylinder to pump the fluid out it won't be able to pump it all out (and you run the risk of damaging the master cylinder). My advice, if you still want to flush the system, is to pay your local brake shoppe. FWIW, I do (and have done) this with ALL of my cars. I do this every two years (the same time I do the coolant flush and re-fill). My local brake shoppe charges me a modest fee of $50 (USD) to perform this service. Robert K. Kuhn CRX Owners Group President (http://www.crx.org/southcal) 1990 Honda CRXsi (http://drive.to/jiggy) ICQ # 3714283 (nickname: godzilla)
