How do you put the rear brake drums back on after replacing shoes and wheel cylinders on a 95 protege There is no star wheel.?

Answer 1

The only additional tools you need are your fingers:

1) Underneath the brake cylinder, and partially blocked by a horizontal spring, is a steel assembly that runs horizontally from one brake shoe to the other.

2) At one end of this assembly, you will see what looks a curved, serrated piece of metal poking toward you.

3) Relieve the spring tension on that end of the assembly (by pulling the adjacent brake shoe toward the side), and you should be able to push the serrated piece of metal toward the center of the car so that it is almost flush with the assembly.

4) This will allow the slotted blocks that push against the brake shoes to move closer together, creating enough clearance to allow the brake drum to slide on to the mounting bolts.

5) If you have trouble relieving the spring tension, following are two additional techniques:

• temporarily disconnect the parking brake mechanism by pushing the slotted metal piece at the end of the cable toward the front of the car, then gently prying it loose from the metal piece that goes into the brake drum (this is much more obvious than it sounds). If necessary, temporarily remove the small spring at one end of the mechanism (by pulling the outer end away from the bracket). Take note of how the spring is installed so you put it back the right way.
• if that doesn't work, loosen the bleeder valve (if it isn't already) so some brake fluid can escape as you push the shoes together to release tension. This means that you should bleed that brake circuit again after you're all done, just in case any air got into the cylinder during the process.

6) VERY IMPORTANT: That serrated piece of metal that you pushed is the automatic adjuster for the rear brakes. So after you've got everything put back together, back up a few times, gently applying the brakes each time. This will auto-adjust the rear brake shoes.

7) The related link (below) from a service manual for a 1995 Mazda MX6 has a diagram of rear drum brakes that appears identical to the Protege setup. The piece that I refer to as a "steel assembly" is shown in the diagram as the "operating lever assembly."