First Brake Job

I know this is fairly basic stuff but the JEEP is needing some new brakes and this will be my first time replacing pads for drum brakes. I've done disc brakes without any problems so I'm thinking this shouldnt be much harder. Just wondering if you guys have a few pointers.

Any recommendations on other things I should check or just go ahead and replace while I'm in there. I'm thinking I will probably go ahead and replace the wheel bearings front and rear while I'm at and was also wondering what that would entail and how difficult that would be.

 

None of that is terribly difficult. Take your time, take some pictures before you tear it all apart, take notes. Do one side at a time so you can use the other for reference. Maybe purchase a factory service manual prior to the work. Do some online research. You can always give a shout here if you run into trouble.

 

Take your time.
Also I usually take a digital picture before you disassemble the brakes. That way you have a reference of how to put it back together.
My dad before I started doing the camera thing always said to do one side at a time....that way you could look at the otherside if you foget how it goes together.

 

R) Thad you beat me to it

What Thad said R)

 

I've tried different brake tool kits, but have found the best tool to use on the pad springs is a pair of needle nose vise grips.

 

:iagree:

 

The best tool I've found for working on drum brakes is shown in this photo between the backing plates. I picked it up either at Sears or at a FLAPS a long time ago

 

Taking digital pictures before disassembly is a great idea.

also, it is likely that, while the shoes themselves will be the same size, the actual braking material length will be shorter on one of them.

Be aware of this.....

 

Brake spring pliers are a must. They are cheap and make doing the job a snap.

 

As described above, the brakes shouldn't be hard . IIRC, though, when I was accessing the bearings on the rear axle, I remember the hubs being TIGHT and lots of beating on a hub puller was needed along with alot of words like @#%$&** and *&@#@$% :evil: . When the left side finally came off, it "flew" approximately 3', hub puller and all. Once I got past that however, no other problems were remembered from that time.

 

Back when I did this I was a teenager (late 80's) and didn't think about such and I figured I was the only loose nut needed but good advise anyway. This also will somewhat protect the threads from any major "boogering".