Drum brakes ain't easy...

It wasn't easy, but one rear wheel restoration is almost complete. I made use of the 70+ degree weather we had this weekend to spray paint the rear brake plate. This was the last task needing to be complete before I could start reassembling everything.

It took a bit of picture digging and diagram studying to remember how everything fit together. It was clear on how to put most things back together as it fit well in a certain order or position. My d'oh moment of the night was when I forgot to put the key shaft (small metal piece that holds the hub and shaft in place) in the shaft before driving the hub down. Forgetting to do so and having tightened the hub down, I had to take out the hub puller and re-pull out the hub. (To see how to do this correctly the first time, skip to 7 min. 50 sec. in the youtube video posted on December 30, 2011.)

Putting in the brake components was a bit tricky as force and shuffling was required to squeeze everything in to place. Having Chris help me with this part definitely made things easier as one person could hold things in place while the other pushed and pull springs and other parts. Also, it helped to have another person to brainstorm ideas on how to put the pieces together. We learned that springs should go on early since they are on the undersides of the shoes, found it easier to put springs in place on the drums first and then position the drums, and that the shoe hold down washer/spring kit is more conveniently installed when using a wrench.

For the shoe hold down kit, in order to get the pin and washer aligned properly, we used the closed end of a wrench to push the washer and spring down while spinning the pin from underneath to lock at a 90 degree angle. The wrench opening allowed us to have a clear view to make sure we got the 90 degree angle. (Below: Chris using the wrench to push down the spring.)

There are still a few more things to put together on the rear assembly and then after that there is the driver rear assembly that needs to be restored. Almost one down and still another to go...(I'm a bit off track from my winter goal to be complete with both assembly units.)