Thread: Just venting

I changed my rear drum brake pads today. I just cant understand why drum brakes exist. they are way harder to change than discs. Silly springs that are near impossible to clip on and when they do usually something gets knocked outta place and you have to undo it all and start again! Spent most of the afternoon fighting with the silly things.

Re-caulked around the bathtub today as well. And after all that bending down my back is killing me. Point is I cant even take a long hot bath to ease my pain, have to wait til tomorrow before using tub.
Well I'm off to the local pool to shower and shave then back for a dram or 2, think I'll drink the good stuff tonight

No real point here I'm just venting

Hmm, If I vented there would be some MOD come along that would have a problem with it.

Drum brakes are old Tech, but they worked well for decades, you must be a young guy eh?

What kind of vehicle are you working on? Drum brake tools are still made, I do have an shoe arcing machine, it's a grinder to arc the shoe to the exact drum arc, pre- breaks in your shoes to a point where a few miles and your drum brakes are working optimum.

Get to be my age and you'll feel like that even when you don't do much of anything.

Did you fill the tub with water before caulking? That is the proper way. The weight of the water pushes down on the tub opening the gap a little. This allows caulk to fill the gap and compress when tub is empty, but expand when full without pulling away from the tub.

Surprisingly, drum brakes have made a bit of resurgence in the form of parking brakes on some of the most modern high tech cars! A lot of new vehicles have a tiny drum brake mechanism in the hub of the rear disc for the parking brake...


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Originally Posted by FAL

Hmm, If I vented there would be some MOD come along that would have a problem with it.

Drum brakes are old Tech, but they worked well for decades, you must be a young guy eh?

What kind of vehicle are you working on? Drum brake tools are still made, I do have an shoe arcing machine, it's a grinder to arc the shoe to the exact drum arc, pre- breaks in your shoes to a point where a few miles and your drum brakes are working optimum.

Not that young. I've changed drum brake pads before, last time was probably 20 years ago. As I recall there was a lot of cussing going on back then as well. Its a 2008 Yaris with 220k Km on it so umm 130kish Miles. Did front pads a couple years ago, discs are so much easier!
As to drum brake tools I dont need no stinking tools! I got a jack, ratchet and some pliers who needs anything else? (probably one of the reasons I was having such a bad time)

Originally Posted by bouschie

Did you fill the tub with water before caulking? That is the proper way. The weight of the water pushes down on the tub opening the gap a little. This allows caulk to fill the gap and compress when tub is empty, but expand when full without pulling away from the tub.

Yes I filled it. this is actually the 4th or 5th time Ive re-caulked that particular bathtub. Seems a previous owner had moved the bathtub and cut a bunch of joists to fit the new piping, some of it needlessly. When we redid the bathroom about 6 years ago they tried to shore it up a bit but did a piss poor job. End result way too much mouvement and caulking would crack. We changed a patio door under the bathroom last year and had them try to shore it up some more but still not working. Well this year we had a guy level the ceiling not because of the cut joists (well not entirely), someone also removed a supporting wall to turn half the garage into living room space (My garage wouldn't even fit my Yaris, but the motorcycles fit so its ok). Anywhoo long story short they supported it OK but It had dropped 3/4 an inch in the middle. With new larger patio door was very noticeable. Guy I hired to fix the ceiling took the time to make sure Bathtub didn't move any more. Probably about 1/2 the labour costs but worth it.
So now bathtub doesn't move and it was time to re-caulk, hopefully for the final time.

Originally Posted by leftyonly

Surprisingly, drum brakes have made a bit of resurgence in the form of parking brakes on some of the most modern high tech cars! A lot of new vehicles have a tiny drum brake mechanism in the hub of the rear disc for the parking brake...


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That's a terrible idea!

I can say that if you have all the right tools changing shoes on a drum brake system it makes a major difference in how many times the springs fling off.

There are quite a few things that can make you crazy if you don't have the right tools.

It's good to vent.

Originally Posted by AlanQ

That's a terrible idea!

Look familiar? Lexus LS460 parking brake!