How to replace the rear brakes on a Ford Fiesta 1.4?

Answer 1

Part 1 (recommended for novice mechanics)

You need the following Tools.

1. The car's Jack or 1 ton (or more) Trolley/Bottle Jack etc..

2. At least one Axel Stand and 4 wheel chocks or House bricks.

3. 1/2 " Socket/Spanner set, up to 17mm or more, with 12" to 18" socket bar.

5. Pliers or small Mole-Grips and a HAMMER*

6. One or two medium flat screwdrivers.

7. A brush: i.e. small paint brush.

8. Wire brush.

9. A small amount of grease (preferably brake grease)

10. Brand new set of rear brake shoes.

Safety First:

Do the work on a reasonably flat, hard surface, park the car with the handbrake on and crack the 4 nuts on the wheel, be careful not to undo them too far. Place the wheel chocks on each side of the wheels of the opposite side to the one you are working on. Release the handbrake and kick the chocks under the wheels so that the car cannot move back or forward. As you will be dealing with nasty brake dust, wear a mask, until any dust has been brushed away. Remember that you MUST always do both drums of the vehicle; otherwise you will get uneven braking and possibly an accident.

Jack up the car at a suitable strong point, (the jacking points?) and place an axle-stand at another strong point. The wheel should be no more than an inch or 2 above the surface when sitting on the axel stand. Remove the wheel; if possible leave the jack and Axel Stand evenly distributing the weight of the car.

Do not press the brake pedal or move handbrake until you have completed the work on both drums, as this will cause the brake cylinder pistons to push out of the cylinder and spay brake fluid everywhere and may cause the handbrake adjuster to fail on one side.

Getting To It:

Behind the drum, is a plate with 4x 17mm bolts, 3 of which can be cracked with your 1/2" socket; undo them until loose, the last nut (bottom right) needs a long 17mm ring spanner and possibly a few taps on the spanner with a hammer. Once they are all loose, remove 2 bottom and one top bolt. Now take the weight of the drum with one hand and remove the last bolt, you should be able to pull the drum straight off, however it may resist (see SNAGS at bottom of page) use the 2 flat screwdrivers to gently prize it off and put it out of the way for now.

Inside Job:

You might be put off by the springs and mechanisms within; look at the picture below it will help when you disassemble/assemble all the bits later: Whatever you do, do NOT remove any springs yet, just take a long look at which holes they are placed and use the picture to confirm it. See the 2 Spring-Clips in the middle of each shoe? Press inwards with your thumb or flat screwdriver, whilst pushing downward, this will release them, the shoes will now bend outwards but will not fall off: The Spring-Pins will usually fall out, put them in a safe place as they are easy to lose.

Removing The Shoes:

Pull the shoe. (that's not connected to the handbrake cable) outward, so that it pulls out of the grooves at the top and bottom, this will release the tension enough for you to remove the 2 long and 1 short springs: Note the angle needed to remove them as you will have to put them back on later. The other shoe is attached to the handbrake cable, so pull it out and the lever will move, allowing you to detach it from the cable, by pulling the tensioned spring back and twisting it towards a rounded hole, where it will release, note how it works, so you can put it back on later.

Be Prepared:

Preparation for the new shoes should involve brushing away any brake dust (See Safety First above) and wire brushing any rust and then smearing a very light film of grease on the following parts: The back of the Spring-Clips, the brake shoe grooves at bottom and top, the 4 "outer" raised points on back-plate, the hand-brake lever "outer" face.

Replacing the Shoes:

Into the Groove:

OK so you have all the bits and your new shoes, first thing to do is to attach the handbrake cable, making sure it goes through the hole and into the slot correctly, then secure the shoe in the grooves and put the Spring-Pin into the hole and press the Spring-Clip onto it.

Push the small spring up into the Automatic Handbrake Adjuster (AHA) slit/hole and then into the shoe hole (with the AHA loose) then slot the AHA into the groove on this shoe. Place the top spring onto the shoe hole just above the AHA. Now slot the other shoe into the AHA groove (see Tricky AHA below) and check it is locked into the AHA.

Do not place this shoe into brake grooves yet: Connect the long top and bottom springs, into the correct holes (on both shoes) then slot the shoe into the brake grooves. Push the Spring-Pin through the holes in back-plate and centre of the shoe and press the Spring-Clip into place.

You should now have an assembly that looks like the picture.

Drum:

It's time to offer the reinstall the drum, but before you do, check the condition of the drum, especially check for cracks or distortion and deep grooves or lips where the metal has decreased thickness by more than 3 mm, if so replace the drums. If there is a rusty rim on the outer part of the drum then use a wire brush to remove it (or file it down) as it might catch on the brakes and damage the surface of the brake linings.

OK now line up the holes inside the drum with the holes on the back-plate, and push the drum over the brakes, until it meets the metal at the rear, use a screwdriver in a hole in the plate at the rear of the drum and thread a bolt into one hole and then the others, tightening them up using the 17mm socket and spanner until you are happy that they are tight.

Check that the drum moves with the handbrake off; press the brake pedal 3-4 times, then the handbrake up and down 5 times to check the cylinder pistons are moving and the AHA has adjusted to the new brakes.

If the brakes seem to be working, take the car out for a gentle 20 minute ride, find a hill and test the handbrake by stopping on it and driving off etc. Press the brakes normally, do not race around and slam on the brakes as this will burn the surface of the new brake shoes and the drum, which will result in shiny brakes and increased braking distance. It will take a few hours of normal driving for the brakes to bed-in, any problems with uneven braking (pulling left or right) should have disappeared by then, any problems need to be looked at urgently.

Part 2 (For experienced would-be mechanics.)

Essentially it's the same as Part 1 except that you remove the drum centre bearing instead of the 4x 17mm bolts, this saves a bit of time and effort and it's easier to replace the hub as it centralises evenly. Only do this if you have a torque-wrench and the correct torque settings, don't forget to clean out the old bearing grease and replace with new grease.

Snags:

Old Parts:

When you buy brake shoes, you don't usually get the other parts of the brake system, so if some of the parts are corroded, broken, bent or lost; you can buy them separately at major Car Spare Stores, Dealerships, or even a Scrap yard.

Jammed Drum:

This happens when the brakes get caught/stuck on the drum or frozen by corroded or broken parts: The prime suspect would be the hand-brake cable or adjuster, try loosening the cable at the handbrake by turning the 1 or 2 nut adjusters to see if it springs off. If it's stubborn; try tapping the drum all around and it might spring free.

It is not unknown to have a brake lining break free of the shoe, it will probably end up jammed between the drum and the other shoe, try reversing the car a few feet, it may just release it. Otherwise you will have to prize the drum off using Brute Force and Ignorance; these are the names of my crowbar and lump-hammer.

New Brakes Not Working.

Tricky AHA:

The Automatic Handbrake Adjuster (AHA) is quite hard to explain, but here goes.

The top of one of the brake shoes (not the one that the handbrake cable connects to) has a square hole with a pointy bit sticking upwards.

The AHA has a groove that the shoe fits into, it has a downward pointy bit underneath, that the shoe "must" go around, then push inwards to lock it into the mechanism.

The trick is to set the AHA so that the adjustment is about 10mm from the end of the slot, this can be set by releasing the spring tension on the AHA so it is at almost maximum adjustment, offer the shoe up at a 45 degree angle and twist it so that the shoe's pointy bit goes inside of the AHA pointy bit, locking the shoe into the groove, keep pushing inwards until you get minimum adjustment i.e. close to the brake cylinder. If you don't get this right you will have trouble getting the drum back on and possibly jammed on the brake linings, causing damage.