Rear Emergency Brake Shoe Replacement: Any Tips?

[Whelan]

I'm about to take this on as my next project tonight. Found a pretty good video on Youtube for replacement.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLi4f-ndRc4

As some of you know I did the front and rear springs and shocks recently and did an E-brake adjustment on the little spur inside the rear hub. Well I am going to also figure out the weird clunk from the rear which I believe to be nothing more than spring seating which may be slightly off, and the popping from the rear. It only happens on turns or when almost coming to a stop, my theory is something on the E-brake shoes popped loose or broke.

The reason for shoe replacement is that after adjusting the cable, I noticed that the E Brake was still not catching and holding the car well, so $25 for a set of shoes seems worthwhile. But if you have any tips, suggestions, or theories of your own throw them my way. What is funny is the E-Brake has not been used a lot on this car so I'm not sure how the shoes would wear so quickly.

 

[HoosierJeeper]

They don't wear so much as they just disintegrate. The rivets holding the pad material to the shoe rust out and the pad part comes off.

 

[dude1116]

Found out the hardware at the end of the cable seizes too. This causes the pads not to move at much or at all. Good thing to check...the two pieces of metal should pivot on each other. Took a heavy mallet and soaking in a pool of PB to free mine up and the emergency brakes STILL don't work right. Once the two pieces were apart I put antiseize alllll over them.

 

[Damotee]

My e-brake has a lot of travel in it. Much of the time it wont even catch. I have to put my foot on the brake and then pull the e-brake up and then it will catch. Perhaps I need to change the shoes, too..

 

[kage860]

On mine the aluminum rivets gave out that hold the e brake assembly to the axle. Partly my fault, I think I damaged them taking off the rotor. The assembly was flopping around and was audible at low speeds. Pulling the axle to reattach it was a PITA but it gives good access to changing the e brake pads/springs.

You can give the e brake backing plates a wiggle to see if they are secured properly to the axle.

 

[Whelan]

Thanks everyone, the passenger side took a little while but again my first time with handbrake shoes so it was expected. Driver side took all of 15 minutes, the biggest PITA was the rotor. The passenger did not want to come loose and I finally found a good video that helped a lot. A serious amount of PB blaster on the hub followed by add back the lug nuts and whacking the rotor flat between the bolts and it popped off after 4 good hits. Now this was after multiple attempts at other methods.

The driver side came off with two good hits right off the bat. Here are a few pics, good thing I decided to replace them as one side the material just fell off the shoe and on the other it was nothing but metal bracket rubbing on the inside rotor. I cleaned it all off as best I could and popped in the new shoes, I assume I still have some adjusting to do from the star adjuster as the E-brake handle does not hold the car yet. But it was 1am and 5am came early for kids and work so another time.

You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images

Video I used for removing rotor. The others suggested bolts through the caliper mount but I'm not a hardware store and did not have hex bolts to fit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDN6pnhExC0

 

[dude1116]

Thanks everyone, the passenger side took a little while but again my first time with handbrake shoes so it was expected. Driver side took all of 15 minutes, the biggest PITA was the rotor. The passenger did not want to come loose and I finally found a good video that helped a lot. A serious amount of PB blaster on the hub followed by add back the lug nuts and whacking the rotor flat between the bolts and it popped off after 4 good hits. Now this was after multiple attempts at other methods.

The driver side came off with two good hits right off the bat. Here are a few pics, good thing I decided to replace them as one side the material just fell off the shoe and on the other it was nothing but metal bracket rubbing on the inside rotor. I cleaned it all off as best I could and popped in the new shoes, I assume I still have some adjusting to do from the star adjuster as the E-brake handle does not hold the car yet. But it was 1am and 5am came early for kids and work so another time.

You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images

You must be registered for see images

Video I used for removing rotor. The others suggested bolts through the caliper mount but I'm not a hardware store and did not have hex bolts to fit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDN6pnhExC0

LOL! There's literally no pad material there!

 

[Whelan]

LOL! There's literally no pad material there!

Yup, I laughed at this as well and had to take the pic before removal, the other side had a little bit but it was falling off the bracket when I pulled off the rotor. 150k and never been touched until last night.

 

[04Liberty]

Same thing happened with my Charger. Never actually had a need for the e-brake. Was replacing rotors, pulled the rears off and oh, look at that. No material.