How do you remove the rear drum on a 2005 sable?

Answer 1

My assumption here is that the question has to do with the removal of the drum, since replacing brake shoes is straight forward and directions can be found on any good maintenance book. This is how I've done it: To remove a rear drum with high mileage shoes (over 30K miles), you need to remove the wheel, then the retaining metal ring around one of the studs (If this is the first service for those brakes). Now comes the hard part. You'll need an S shaped 'Star wheel' tool you can buy at any auto part (they are usually under $10) a small mirror and a flash light, if you are doing the work in your garage and a thin #1 Phillips about 6-8" long. You will need to back off the shoes from the drum, which by know they have a ridge that prevents the drum from sliding out. There is an oblong slot on the back plate of the brake. It has a rubber cover. The slot is at 2 o'clock on the left hand side, 10 o'clock on the right. There is the steel brake line blocking the acces to this slot (in the past, this slot used to be at 6 o'clock which made using the tools a snap). Not visible to you are the 'star wheel' whis you will need to turn counterclockwise on the left side, clockwise on the right. Of course, it is not that simple. You will probably need to grind down the sharp-angled part of the S tool with a grinding stone and sheve off about 1/4", to allow the introduction of the thin screw driver together with the S tool, but to the right of it on the left wheel, to the left of it on the right wheel, through the slot. There is a pawl that locks the star wheel you have to push towards you in order to turn the start wheel. In order to visualize what you are about to do, I use a mirror and reflect light onto the star/pawl assembly. I have been doing this for my current Mercury Sable and the previous three since 1996 (they are identical to the Tauruses). If you haven't lost interest yet, once you've done this, you will be able to slide the drum off. Sometimes you need to hit around the edges of the drum to accomplish this. One word of advice, if you are still reading: Replace the drums, don't turn them. It's the same cost, maybe less and you will not have to deal with out-of-round drum vibration. I paid $35 ea. at AutoZone plus $19 for their best shoes. The dealer and Good Year asked $300+ for this job without new drums. Good luck.