Rep Power: 255

Hey I am having a huge problem with my car. I would appreciate as much help as possible as soon as possible. I was hooking up my vac gauge. My friend who has the same vac gauge told me the best hose to tap into is the one that goes from the mani to the brake booster.

Instead of buying a whole huge system of t adapters and reducers I though i could just take the vac tube with an end on it and make a small hole in the vac hose and stick the end in and seal it up with silicone. I did all that then i started the car to see if it worked

At the same time i have been painting my brake drums in the rear and my drums were off. Rear end was on jackstands. SO i started the car had a small vac leak I tapped the brakes and i heard fluid shoot out of the back driversside drum. Any ideas what could have caused this. I am freaking out right now. I hoped puttind drums on would fix this problem. passenger side there was no leak drivers side the drum did not want to go on so i adjusted and stuff and kinda popped it back on. Then i hit the brakes with car on and now i cant get driversside drum off. Its like the master cylinder wont go back in. I hit the brakes with the car off to check to see if its still leaking and it is. what do i do.

 
Rep Power: 233

you hit the brakes which expanded the rear brakes too much because the drums were off. From your explanation, i think the brake shoes expanded to much and popped off of whatever is holding them. now they cant pop back in and there stuck. You will have to somehow pry off your driver side drum maybe even use a hammer.

 
Rep Power: 286

Don't forget that you can use 10mm bolts to help pull the drum off. If that doesn't work some friends of mine used a big pulley puller before and it worked. The first thing I would check would be the wheel cylinder seals for the side that the drum is already off. After I checked the seals and if they were fine I would use a C-clamp to push the little piston rod thingys back in the wheel cylinder. If the piston rod thingys don't go back in with relative ease then I would think something worse is wrong. I'm not an expert when it comes to drum brakes, but that's what I would do.

 
Rep Power: 424

Just replace the wheel cylinders. They're not that expensive.
And get a T-fitting... they're only $2.

 
Rep Power: 255

ok so got the brake drum off turned the adjuster wheel and brought them back in. I dont know if the wheel cylinders are shot or not i have yet another problem. The way i got the drums off was to open the bleeder to let off some of the pressure and then pry it off. The problem is my bleeder valve is pretty much stripped and i cant get it back on so i cant even test cuz im shootin out fluid everytime i hit the brakes. any ideas on how to get it tight again.

 
Rep Power: 811

wow yeah i guess its too late but never use the brakes when they are taken apart. they sell new bleeders at the store. and yeah you should pick up the wheel cylinders too while youre there.

 
Rep Power: 331

new cylinders come with bleeders. and yea, you're better off getting new ones, they rarely seal as well once they start leaking. Im sure you learned something, never use the brakes with the drums off.

 
Rep Power: 255

sure did. i learned a lot today. Oh well i havent ever replaced the wheel cylinders before when I got my car it had around 130xxxkms on it and im at around 190 now probably due for a changing anyways. Do any of you guys know how hard the new cylinders are to install. I have the haynes manual but I haven't really looked at it. Im also worried because i live in canada and everything is pretty rusty under there. Also how much are wheel cylinders worth? they want $46 each + tax at the local parts store. Didn't even bother calling the stealership