The drum brake system has been incorporated on many vehicles. Most of the vehicles on the road today offer a choice of four wheel disc brakes, or front disc brakes and rear drum brakes. Drum brakes are found mostly on the rear of vehicles. At the bottom of the drum brake assembly, there is an adjuster known as a star-wheel adjuster. Over time this adjuster can over expand due to such things as consistent use of the parking brake. Every time the parking brake is set, the adjuster wheel tightens the drum brakes a little more.
Instructions
- 1
Lay beneath the rear bumper of the vehicle you are working on, and position your body so that you can physically access the back wheel of the car. With the rear of the vehicle raised and the rear wheels off of the vehicle, remove the small rubber grommet from the rear of the brake backing plate. The backing plate is the metal plate that covers the back side of the drum brakes, and the rubber grommet is located on the rear of the plate. This grommet fills the adjuster hole, which will give you access to the star-wheel adjuster.
2Insert a thin flat head screwdriver into the hole in the backing plate. Insert the tip of the screwdriver onto the star-wheel adjuster teeth. Pry the teeth of the adjuster downward from behind the brakes. This motion will force the star-wheel to collapse inward and release the pressure on the drum.
3Tap the sides of the drum toward the front and back of the car with a large rubber mallet. This hammering motion will move the drum side to side, and push the brake shoes inward. This procedure can also assist in the removal of the brake pressure from the drums. Try removing the drum by hand. If this procedure has not worked thus far, continue to the next step in this project.
4Place a small pry bar in between the bottom inner lip of the drum, and the backing plate. Pry the drum outward. Move the pray bar to the side lips of the drum, and pry between the drum and backing plate on either side of the drum. Use this method, alternating between the bottom and two sides at least five consecutive times. The more you pry on the drum, the further it should come out. The object of this step is to pull the drum out to physically access the star-wheel adjuster with a screwdriver.
5Pry the drum outward again in between the drum and rear backing plate. This time place the tip of the pry bar at a diagonal angle both downward and towards the rear of the car (at about the 4 or 5 o'clock position of you are facing the front of the brake drum). Insert a thin flat head screwdriver above the star wheel adjuster or either one of its extending cylinders. Push the handle of the screwdriver upward to pry down on the star-wheel adjuster. This prying motion with the screwdriver should remove the adjuster from the inside of the brake assembly completely. Once the adjuster is completely removed, you should have no problem pulling the brake drum off by hand.
