Cleaning my drums.

Both of my flexy hoses have been changed, the guy who's doing it found some. The shoes are fine and all of the drums have been cleaned. I just need to pick it up now.

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Good news Andy[^]

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I've just got my van home, the guy who did said the drums were safe but could do with replacing. How big a job is it to replace the drums? He said the reason was because they wouldn't tighten up all the way.

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Forgot to say, the brakes seem a lot better. The van isn't pulling to one side anymore. The pedal does appear to be a lot lighter.

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Not sure what he means by 'not tightening all the way' maybe run out of adjustment - which is very unusual, more likely the shoes need replacing. The drums are simple to replace but I doubt very much if you will find new ones:I

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I don't know what he meant then because he said the shoes were almost new. Maybe he isn't used to working on old vehicles. Is it possible to run out of adjustment? All I know is the breaks are a lot better, they don't feel spongy and the van isn't pulling to one side.

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The drums may need replacing if the brake shoes were allowed to wear down too much at some point in time, as they may score or leave a rivet groove the drums.

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The simpler the betterer...
 
Thanks, I'll have a word with the guy who did it. It all seems ok, I had a good drive in it.

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I'd say the drums are extremely worn and now oversize. We're talking about drums most likely originally fitted to the van and with 50 years of wear. This combined with worn shoes would have the shoe adjustment close to maximum (fully extended)by the sound of it. What he means by "tightening up all the way" refers to this brake shoe adjuster. After replacing worn shoes it needs to be tighten up (shorter in length)so the new thicker shoes will fit in the drum and you have the full range of adjustment as the drums wear.

The workshop manual should specify the maximum machined diameter permitted for the drums. The fact that he didn't need to tighten it up all the way is a good sign of worn drums.

Cheers Stephen
 
Thanks Srephen, that makes sense. So the only answer is to replace the drums? Where's the best place to get new drums from and will it be ok to use my van?

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According to the Workshop Manual on this site your front drums new would have been 10.000"/9.995" internal diameter. Perhaps you could get them measured accurately with a brake drum micrometer locally for a definite answer.

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The simpler the betterer...
 
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