How to inspect rear drum brakes.

[kayyou]

Hey,

hopefully a simple one - how do we inspect the rear drums/shoes?

There's quite a grinding noise under braking, sounds like the shoes may have worn out or are sticking? How can we inspect this - bearing in mind there's neither the place nor the tools to take the wheel off

Also - can we replace the handbrake cable ourselves? - I have access to bicycle tools, that sort of scale stuff.

Thanks!

 

[MovingShadow]

Since I'm following car mechanics at school, and according to the teacher, maintenance or repair on a drum brake is one of the most annoying jobs to do.
Alot of fiddling and swearing is involved.

About the handbrake cable, I don't know.

 

[kayyou]

Cheers!

Any other input anyone?

 

[jra3d]

you have to remove the drum itself to expose the shoe inside

 

[Universe]

Since I'm following car mechanics at school, and according to the teacher, maintenance or repair on a drum brake is one of the most annoying jobs to do.
Alot of fiddling and swearing is involved.

About the handbrake cable, I don't know.

Yes they are very primitive and require a lot of manual adjusting.

Take it to a good garage

 

[Dubz]

About the rear drum brakes. If you're feeling brave. Follow this video

[youtube]AXMFVx8jJLU[/youtube]

 

[MovingShadow]

Not to frighten you but an (ex)coworker took his Golf 3 to a garage for a service on the drumbrakes.
When the service was done and driving on the highway he suddenly heard a loud bang.
Instantly followed by his left rear wheel flying by him. He managed to stop on the emergency lane without incidents.

Apparently the garage tightened up everything too much causing everything to lock up.

So as universe said, take a good garage or be brave enough to do it yourself.