Worst Rear Brake Job I've Ever Done, Help please??

Alright here we go. I set out to do front and rear brakes, did the fronts in 45 minutes no prob with hand tools. So go to do the rears and figure i'll be done in an hour, well its been two days and i don't know what the heck i'm doing wrong here as i've done many drum jobs in the past. let me exlpain the problem as its puzzling, when i did the fronts i went to pull the e-brake up and the front cable snapped when i got the handle to the top, first bad part. Kay well on the rears the drum would not come off for the world, i ended up treading two bolts through it to push it off by screwing them against the axle flange, finally after a while it came off but during that whole time i was backing the drum off the shoes were pulling out too cause they were really tight against the drum, was the brake on? anyway the drum came off and i took off the old shoes and whatnot. Set the adjuster all the way back, push new shoes on and everything and the new drum will not fit on, took shoes off like 4 or 5 times trying to see if i got something wrong but nope everything is together correctly, the drum still won't go over the shoes. Then i thought maybe the cylinder is frozen a bit so i took back apart and tryed compressing the pistons in with the bleeder open but they would'nt move even a bit with 13 inch channel locks. i figured they were siezed and that was the problem but then i was able to just pull the pistons right out and wipe them off! cleaned them up and put them back in and still would'nt work. What is the problem here, i know the drum and shoes are the right ones so thats not a possibility, i got the right parts. Any ideas?

thanx,

eric

If the shoes are both seated to the pin on the top and the adjuster is adjusted all the way in.

I havn't a clue.

You need to find out what broke, yes it sounds like your e-brake was engaged. If so you must disengage it then all should be well.

thats the thing, i thought i might have been engaged and thats why the drums would'nt come off because it was on, so when i got the drums off finally and replaced everything and found it would'nt go back together i disconnected the e-brake cable from the drum itself and put it all together and it still did'nt even work that way, go figure. I'm about fed up with this thing and i really dont' get it

Forgive me if this isn't the case but there are two different size rear brakes on a 91- your parts folks could have given you the wrong ones. Check that out. Yup I know its a DUH, but might as well check everything out!

I would have to agree with asatxj. My luck with parts people hasn't been the best since I know what I have on my XJ and they think they know what I have on it. Best bet is to take the old shoes in and have them match them before you leave. I've found that what the Haynes manual calls a part is called something different in the parts store books. If you need a picture of mine to compare let me know since I have to pull axle shafts today and find the vibrations that I have narrowed down to the rear end.

thats the thing though, i know they are right because i got them from my dad, he is a parts manager at jeep and he knows there are different sizes and knew to get the right one, we still can't figure out why they won't work. i found when you take the pistons out of the rear brakes there is like these rubber things inside the cylinders that push the pistons out when fluid is pressed against them, almost like a 2nd set of pistons from what i can see, but they are some sort of rubber or plastic, could these be seized and not letting the pistons seat completely in when i go to put the shoes on?

thanx guys,

Eric

some one shine some light on this for me as i'm going outside again very soon and not looking forward to it.

thanx,

ERic

new wheel cylinders $10 a piece they're worth every penny unless you have to do all new brake lines on the axle like I did then it's just time consuming but still worth it for working brakes.

First if you don't have the E-brake attached to anything then pull all the linkage out since it will just be wasting space. Second pull the cap off the master cylinder and then try to push the pistons back in. If the rounded out part of the brake shoe(on upper part of shoe) doesn't come in contact with the rounded part of the axle then your wheel cylinders are frozen and need replaced.

eric91xj said:

i found when you take the pistons out of the rear brakes there is like these rubber things inside the cylinders that push the pistons out when fluid is pressed against them, almost like a 2nd set of pistons from what i can see, but they are some sort of rubber or plastic, could these be seized and not letting the pistons seat completely in when i go to put the shoes on?

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Those wheel cylinders could very well be frozen up, and even if they aren't, they pit inside and if you install new linings the seals get pushed back to the pitted area and they leak. FatXJ is correct -- you should be replacing the wheel cylinders as part of the brake job. It's cheap insurance, and just plain good practice. I'm surprised your father didn't tell you that.

BTW, when you tried to compress the wheel cylinders back in, did you have the bleeder screw open? If not, you're trying to compress the hydraulic fluid against a check valve, and that ain't gonna happen. Open the bleeder and try again. Then go out first thing Monday and buy wheel cylinders.

yeah i did open the bleeder, still would'nt budge even a bit. I will go out first tomorrow and buy new wheel cylinders that sounds like my problem, thanx you guys very much as usual.

Later,

Eric

Open Bleeder

I know you said you had the bleeder open, but when you tried to compress the pistons, did you get air or fluid coming out? Something should have came out. If neither, the cylinder is jammed.

Bill90XJ

i did'nt get nothin coming out at all when the bleeder was open, but anyway i went and got new wheel cylinders yesterday and put them in along with new self adjusters and springs and all, to my suprise it actually worked and all went together! and then i preceeded to bleed the rear brakes, without out even really putting any torque on the bleeder valve it stripped the treads right outta the wheel cylinder!! i was pissed to say the least, took it all apart again the the parts store said its defect and they'll warranty it.

ERic