Doing my rear brakes today and have ?s

So my wheel cylinder blew up on me sunday. Got a new WC and brake shoes and a 30-55,000btu propane heater since its -5 outside and I have a really small unheated and uninsulated garage to work in.

I've never done drum brakes before and wanted to make sure that its okay to spray the s*** out of them with brake cleaner? The side that I pulled was thick with brake fluid and dust from the pads to the point I could hardly see what was in there.

I am planning on having the heater about 5ft away and pointed at me and my work area, should I be concerned about the cleaner igniting in my face?

My plan of attack at the moment is to do the drivers side WC and shoes then pull the Heep up a bit and move it over so I have more room to work on the other side then bleed the rear.
Because my work area is so cramped will it damage anything if after finishing the side with the blown WC and move it over before bleeding it?

I'm sure these are newbie questions but I am a newb and a newb that searched.

Thanks

I have done alot of of work with flammable things around one of those big torpedo type heater (everyone has a different name for them!) and I have never had any problem with anything igniting - HOWEVER, this in no way means its a 100% safe thing to do - you may want to shut the heater off for when you are actually spraying the brake cleaner and then wait a minute until the fumes clear and then fire it back up

Your good to go,except the heater/brakecleaner,thats stuff is extremely flammable!

Yeah the brake cleaner was one of the bigger things I was worried about. I think I have the garage ventlated enough though. I have the front of the heep outside and the garage door down just in front of the windshield and on the hood. A foot of clearance on one side and a foot and a half on the other. Was thinking about turning off the heater for the spraying and putting a fan by it to get the fumes out.

Fans can start a fire also.Since your probably going to have to get a brush after it anyway,why not use deisel.I only use brakeclean to get any finger oils/grease off at final assembly.

Yeah, so is there a way to seal off the WC on the drivers side so I can drive it to a friends garage across town?
I have been trying to just get this pos on jack stands since I posted this and because of a crap garage with uneven/falling apart asphalt floor I cant even do that.
This is my DD and I have to be at work on Thursday. My buddies garage is only available in the evening so I would have to get this done tonight. Could this turn into a train wreck?
How much do you think it would cost to just take it to a shop?

I said screw it and took it in.
I am a bit imasculated now. This is the first time I've ever paid someone to work on any of my vehicles. I'm gonna convert it over to discs in the spring now.

-5 degrees shrinks some of a guy's parts.

what!?!?! why would you pay someone to fix your rear drums then convert to discs in 2 months?

The cold sucked but I bought a nice 50k btu heater that worked nice. My XJ falling off jack stands was the deal breaker.

I need to get to work tomorrow. That alone is worth the money to have it done.

jack stands? - floor jack under pumpkin .... DONE!

I've had floor jacks give out while I was under vehicals, dont trust em anymore.

veedubshafer said:

jack stands? - floor jack under pumpkin .... DONE!

Click to expand...

obviously, you've got one of those magic floor jacks that will levitate a vehicle if it fails. I wouldn't put any faith in my floor jack to keep a vehicle in the air, balanced while pulling brake springs, and still while the drive wheels (park) are off the ground.

jack stands can (and will) do that without the magic.

I just throw the tire that I have off under the vehicle - it cant land on the ground then and with brakes you're not going to be underneath the vehicle

being in a cold/freezing ass garage without the proper tools is not the best time to do rear drums if you never have done them before. not that they are super hard to do, but the first time is always the hardest and there are little tricks that you neeed to know if you dont use brake tools. sometimes it worth it to have someone else do it.