'84 Marathon - new brake shoe install - LONG!

[rlw]

(This. Thread. Is. Useless. Without. Pictures.)

Yep. I know - my hands were too dirty to take any. Sorry.

Anyway, I put new brake shoes on my Franken-cart last night. Was pleased and impressed on how easy the job was. The passenger side took about an hour and a half - getting my bearings, reading the '83 Marathon manual. Driver side took about 45 minutes.

Here's the sequence of events (this was a simple 30-step process for me - for ONE side! 74 steps in all if you do both sides!):

1. Set the (not-working-very-well) hill brake.
2. Loosen the lugnuts slightly (BEFORE jacking up the cart).
3. Jack up the cart (I did one side at a time), put a jackstand under the u-bolts next to the wheel you're working on. Chock the other wheels that are still on the ground.
4. Release the hill brake.
5. Remove the lug nuts/wheel. (Note: on my cart, the lug nuts hold the drum onto the hub).
6. Remove the brake drum.
7. Remove the rubber boot on the adjuster (back of back plate, 12 o'clock).
8. Remove the cotter pin in the castle nut holding the hub.
9. Remove the castle nut. This is easier said than done. I threaded two lug nuts onto adjoining lugs, then braced a 2 foot prybar between the nuts with the prybar handle on the floor. Sprayed a little WD-40 on the axle threads and castle nut. Since I didn't have a 1-1/8" socket, I used a large crescent wrench and tapped it (ok, i BANGED it!) with a hammer until the castle nut turned ever-so-slightly. By then, I could loosen it with the crescent wrench, and with the WD-40, take it off with my fingers.
10. Squirt some WD-40 on the axle spline/hub interface.
11. Tap the back of the hub lightly with the hammer to get it off the splines on the axle (I *did* tap lightly). (Note: One side came off easily, the other needed a wheel puller).
12. Now you can see the brake shoes, springs, brake lever mechanism, and adjuster mechanism.
13. Remove the retaining clips holding the brake shoes into the brake assembly. To do this, push the top of the spring clip in, and rotate the clip 90 degrees to remove it from the retainer. Do this for both shoes. (Note: Use a clamp to hold the brake shoes against the back of the brake assembly - I used a couple of those cheap plastic spring clamps. Otherwise, the springs on the brake shoes will cause them to pop out of the assembly, and scare the livin' crap out of you!)
14. Remove the shoes by pulling them toward you - they'll fold like a book towards the center due to the tension on the springs.
15. This would be a good time to clean up the back plate, brake lever, adjuster, axle, drum, springs, hub, etc. I blew all the dust and cruft out with an air compressor, then used an old towel and isopropyl alcohol to wipe down all the surfaces. I was pretty surprised how clean everything was once I got the drum off - this is an '84 Marathon. Probably because it hadn't been used on the highways, in snow, ice, salt, etc. Very little rust.
16. There are 7 spots that need a dab of lubrication. I used bearing grease, and put just a little on each spot. The spots are shown in the attached image. Make sure you don't use too much - you don't want any grease on the shoes or drum.
17. Attach the springs to the new brake shoes. I placed the left shoe flat against the back plate, inserted the tabs into the adjuster and brake lever, and clamped it with the cheap plastic clamp. For the right shoe, I inserted the tabs on the other side of the adjuster and lever, then pressed it back against the back plate and clamped it.
18. Attach the retaining clips to the left and right shoe. This can be a pain in the ar$e. I pushed in the top of the clip and rotated the retainer pin 'til it caught. Ten times, because the screwdriver I used to push the spring clip kept slipping off and everything went flying.
19. Using a 7mm open end wrench, turn the brake adjuster clockwise to pull the shoes in (need to do this to get the drum back on).
20. Under the cart, loosen the two bolts on the turnbuckle on the brake linkage and loosen the turnbuckle to take all of the tension off the brake lever(s).
21. Install the hub back on the (now cleaned up) axle spline. I put a couple of drops of 30 weight on the spline and the inside of the hub to make things slide better and hopefully reduce rusting.
22. Thread the castle nut back on. Tighten it as tight as you can with a crescent wrench or socket - no need to torque it yet.
23. Put the drum back on.
24. Tighten the drum to the hub with (at least two of) the lug nuts.
25. Using the 7mm wrench, rotate the adjuster counter-clockwise until it becomes difficult to move. DON'T OVER-TIGHTEN - YOU COULD BREAK SOMETHING!!!. At this time, you shouldn't be able to turn the brake drum.
26. Back the adjuster clockwise 3 clicks. You should be able to turn the drum now.
27. Put the rubber boot back on the adjuster.
28. Remove the lug nuts you used to hold the drum to the hub, put the wheel/tire back on, put the lug nuts back on.
29. Jack up the cart a bit to remove the jack stands.
30. Drop the cart back down, tighten the lug nuts (not TORQUE tight, just tight enough to hold the wheels - we'll torque 'em later).
31. Rinse, repeat, do the other side.
32. Under the cart, tighten the turnbuckle until there's no play in the brake pedal.
33. Loosen the turnbuckle until there's between 3/4" and 1" of play in the pedal.
34. Tighten the locknuts on the turnbuckle.
35. Set the hill brake.
36. Torque the lug nuts on both wheels to 60 ft. lbs.
37. Torque the castle nuts on both axle/hub combos to somewhere between 90 and 140 ft. lbs.
38. Back off the castle nuts enough so you can... Greyed out on the advice of Rib33024 and PGGroves - NEVER back off the castle nut - add a washer to avoid stripping the splines between the hub and axle.
39. ...Install NEW cotter pins in them.
40. (Don't try these next steps at home, kids, I'm a trained IDIOT!)
41. Drive the cart as fast as it'll go down the slight incline on your driveway. Remember, this is a stock '84 Marathon with 9 year old batteries - the word fast is a relative term!
42. Slam the brakes on before you hit the porch (actually, about 50 feet before you hit the porch).
43. If you did a good job, you'll leave a 4 or 5 foot skid mark in the gravel and the cart will stop.
44. If you didn't do a good job, you smack into the porch and end up in traction at the hospital.

Luckily, I did a good job and didn't end up in traction.

If I missed any steps, feel free to let me know. If this can be of some use, maybe it could become a sticky some day...

Hope this helps someone else.

RLW

[pggroves]

Omit step #38. Never back off for cotter pin alignment.

Only tighten..

I might have some issues with your road testing methods as well.....

[rlw]

Originally Posted by pggroves

Omit step #38. Never back off for cotter pin alignment.

Only tighten..

I might have some issues with your road testing methods as well.....

Unfortunately, when I torqued it down, there wasn't any "righty-tighty" left on the thing. I had to back it off to get the cotter pin in.

The whole job reminded me of the brake repair procedure in How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive: A Manual of Step by Step Procedures for the Compleat Idiot by John Muir - it said to tighten the castle nut on the hub until it cracks, then back it off a half a turn!

RLW

[rib33024]

Yeah you never back off the nut, if it wont tighten any more, you need to add a washer, when you back off, you take the chance of striping the hub on the axle

[rlw]

Rib/PG,

Changes made in original, and suggestions cited.

Thanks,

RLW