I want to remove the brake drums from my '97 Fiesta to examine the linings. In order to remove the drums, it would appear that the drums and hub including bearing must be removed as an assembly. I have never seen the type of hub nut fitted. It looks as if it is made of hex. shaped laminations held in an all enclosing hex. shaped tab washer. My questions are:
1. Are the nuts handed; ie. LH on the left side and RH on the right ? Hence no split pin.
2. Do you undo the whole nut without bending back the tabs first ?
3. Can they be re-used ?
4. Is there an easier way to merely examine the linings ?
Edited by Pugugly on 10/06/2009 at 11:39
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Buy a Haynes manual -loads cheap s/h on ebay.
I have done the job and it is very easy. There are 4 bolts on each hub with nuts positioned in the rear of the hub carrier behind the shock absorber . If you undo each ( a socket set required) and slacken of the handbrake if required then the drum and wheel bearing pulloff as a complete assembly leaving the shoes free.
You will need axle stands.
No the bolts are not threaded. Undoing the big nut on the end of the bearings is much more difficult as you have big torque settings.. etc..
madf
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I have a Haynes manual and it says remove the hub nut and withdraw the hub/brakedrum from the stub axle.
I think the method you describe applies to the earlier (MK3?) model.
The car's not at home just now, so can't check existence of 4 bolts. Photos in manual don't show enough detail.
Kind Regards
Richard
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Just done this job on a 98 Fiesta which I imagine is very similar. Basically involves removal of single hub nut (laminated type as you say) and tapping off the hub.
I used a 30mm socket to remove the hub and then the drum came off fairly easily. I believe the hub nuts can be reused up to 4 times but thats worth double checking.
If you remove the 4 nuts on the backplate, then removing the stub axle but thats not the Haynes recommended mathod for checking the drums and shoes.
Hope thats of some help!
By the way, changing the shoes is fiddly, the handbrake cable connection is great for removing skin from your fingers!
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Fiesta Back Brakes:
Do not bend back the cage around the nut ! Take it off as it is using a suitable socket over the lot and use a long enough arm.
I made that mistake and what a problem afterwards. The nut is a sandwich of 3 slim nuts one on top of the other. Getting the inside one off is a nightmare as what is left of the cage gets in the way of getting the socket onto a very slim nut.
As I remember mine, I just took the wheel nuts off, removed the wheel, undid the wheel bearing nut, released the hand brake, and pulled the hub off. But the suggestion here to leave the wheel nuts on and use the wheel as leverage to pull the drum off could be worth a try. You still need to remove the centre bearing nut (inside the small cap) and part of the bearing comes away with it.
The shoes bed into a groove they have made and so it can be a bit of a struggle to get the drum off.
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Thanks for the info.
You don't say if the nuts have LH or RH threads. If they're both RH, the lamination must be some cunning Ford design to stop the left hub unscrewing. I will have a go at the weekend (after borrowing monster torque wrench from work).
Cheers
RJ
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If I remember correctly both nuts were the same thread. (i.e unscrewed anti-clockwise)
I tried to borrow a torque wrench that went to the required 235 Nm but in the end had to rely on a large breaker bar and making sure they went on as tight as they came off!
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The passanger side hub nut is a left hand thread. So if you want to loosen it, go clockwise.
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The passanger side hub nut is a left hand thread.
One would have hoped that after nearly 6 yrs, he'd have realised ;o)
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If you remove the 4 nuts on the backplate, then removing the stub axle but thats not the Haynes recommended mathod for checking the drums and shoes.
SQ
Removing the four bolts on the back plate is the official Ford way to remove the rear drum, the Haynes manual states that due to past experiance and because of corrosion etc, it is easier to remove the rear drum by undoing the hub nut.
Hope this helps
Pastyman
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 11/06/2009 at 20:02
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I'm in the middle of this job just now (replacing handbrake cable and brake shoes) on a 95 Fiesta and can report a couple of things :
1) We tried using the 4 backplate bolts initially, but when the whole assembly came off, the drum wouldn't come off because the brake shoes got in the way of the stub axle assembly ! This was possibly due to the handbrake return spring being very old and had probably tightened up by itself. So - we had to remove the bearing anyway which was amazingly difficult on a bench vice.
I would suggest that removal of the bearing nut with the assembly on the wheel is the way to go.
2) The new shoes have gone on, but putting the drum back on is an extremely tight fit. The car only just moves when I push it from the front or back. I've improved it a bit by going at the corroded edge of the brake drum with a drill and whirring scraping tool which someone else has also suggested and that definitely improves things (can't remember what the tool is called).
So far it's taken me over 10 hours to replace the handbrake cable and one pair of brake shoes. Ridiculous !
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i know for a fact on the mk 3 the ns/r is left hand thread , so to loosen turn it clockwise with a long bar, and repack the bearing with stacks of grease...and dont over tighten afterwards or you will wreck the tapered roller bearing
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