LDX

I have the service manual but am wondering

Should I tackle this on my own or have my mechanic do it instead? I was never taught on drum brakes but was on disc brakes.

zeeman

iTrader: (1)

do it up, if you have a service manual with lots of pics, your golden.
Its sort of intimidating the first few times working on drums, but its really not as complicated as you'd think.

1sykcoupe

discs and drums r totally different. be cautious drums r a ***** to do

imported_Nicotine

i did mine today without any assistance. woot.

i always just had them done. but i said, **** it. im gonna do it and did it.

the key is....do one side at a time

so that way you can reference the other side incase.

it wasnt that bad.

i did my front brakes (complete), rears, and even put new lowering springs on (my first time ever. i've always delt with air suspension till now, which imo, is actually easier than dealing with spring compressors, etc)

and it wasnt that bad.

do it up. you'll feel like you've accomplished something when you are done

edit: and you save cash (which is ALWAYS a good thing)

imported_SaYjAiBaO

are you going to service or replace? which one is it because servicing is much easier. a rear drum service usually consists of,

descaling drums
sanding shoes
clean off all the brake dust
applying some anti seize.

it's pretty simple but it'll probably take you a bit longer to descale the drums because you probably don't have access to a brake service machine. shouldn't take more than half an hour per side.

imported_gatherer

when you get the drum off before disassembling the shoes and taking them off take a picture .. that way you know what it's suppose to look like when you are done.

imported_wajih1

i did mine the other day for the first time, wasnt bad at all. IMO get the spring removal tool if you are gonna change the shoes, it made my life alot easier, those springs are hard to take off with a plier.

imported_Turbo-D

I just draw a diagram the first time and label all the springs if they look similar. This way you know what goes where. Like Zeeman said if you have a manual with pictures you'll be good to go. I can't see any issues with doing it yourself. Goodluck.

LDX

I heard the springs were really tricky, but never knew there was a spring removal tool. When you say descaling, does that mean machining the drum?

Thanks guys

imported_Moe_Mentum

Give yourself lots of extra time. My first time doing the drums was a huge PITA. Mainly because I wasn't using the spring removal tool. After the first side though the other side was easy as pie.

nrg3k

i did my rear-drums last summer. It took me about 2hrs to do the first one and about 10 mins to do the second one. Putting the shoes and springs back together is a real fun job (not). Make sure you get the full replacement spring kit.

DJM:>

imported_spl_civic

you'll be fine...confused most likely when you try to put it back together, but like gatherer said take a picture before you take it apart, or just lift the backend of the car and remove both drums and use one side as a guide for the other

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

it all depends on your skill level. I've seen girls have trouble pumping gas... so if a girl came on here and asked how hard it is to pump gas, what would you say???? it's easy, but for you it might be difficult. for all we know you might be working with a 75 peice Jobmate tool set and nothing else.

thread closed.