Fordnatics List Archive

This read-only message was archived from a public mail list.
Mail From: (email redacted) (Scott Hung)

Advanced apologies for the double post, but since I sent the original message
to both lists, I've followed up to both of 'em.

Basically, I was experiencing a noise from the driver's side rear drum brake
after having a wheel on that wasn't torqued down enough.

Well, this weekend I finally got into it and removed the wheel. Didn't see
anything obvious: Most of the parts were covered in a thin, asbestos-filled
layer of brake dust and I couldn't find anyplaces inside of the brake drum
(springs, levers or any of that) that looked rubbed or scratched.
I tried looking straight down on the backing plate to see if it was bent or
not, but it was very hard to tell (any suggestions?).
Anyways, I swapped off the old drum for one from an '86 w/11k miles on it.
After test driving, the thump-thump noise had been reduced to only occurring
at 30mph +, but was still there. I got the car back on stands and compared
the drivers and passengers side brakes. The only thing I noticed was that
when I pushed at the six o'clock position on the driver's side drum, the drum
would move toward the backing plate by, oh...maybe 1/8 of an inch. When I
then pushed at the 12 o'clock position, the drum would move back by the
same amount. The passenger side didn't *seem* to be able to move by as much,
so I'm guessing that's where my problem is coming from.

Solution?
Anybody have a spare backing plate? If I've got to replace the backing plate,
it looks like I need to discombobulate the whole driver's side rear drum stuff,
take that side's axle out, get at the four bolts holding the plate in
place, disconnect the brake line and finally pull the damn thing off. Does
that sound pseudo-accurate?
Any tips on how to remove the axle? I've only seen the innards of a
differential once and have been told that there's a pin holding the axle in
that gets tapped out, but when it comes time to reinstall the axle is there
a trick to lining up the axle with whatever it comes free from? Do I just
"ram" them together and jam the pin back in?
Any special tools required for any part of the job? I've got a brake line
wrench (or whatever you call it) so as to not damage the hose. Anything
else needed?
I'll post a summary after I've figured the dang thing out...

TIA
Scott "Don't-ever-rush-a-job-again" Hung