Y2K GMC rear disc brakes

[JDgreen227]

A Jedi class trick a friend of mine pulls off is "massaging" a brake drum with a hammer.

Part of what his is doing is fracturing enough of that ridge that you don't need a puller, and next to nothing happens to the shoes during removal. He's never said so explicitly, but I know him well enough to realize he's also checking the integrity of the drum.

Rarely cracks a drum, and usually does it while in the midst of mulitiple conversations....

So yeah, whenever I get thinking I've just pulled off some slick little mechanical maneuver, I drop by his shop to get reminded what a really talented pro is able to easily do...

I probably should record a vid when he is Safety checking an older car or truck, as even a lot of younger mechanics aren't going to work on enough drums to get that proficient.

(P.S. - sorry about the drift JD).

Rgds, D.

Not a drift at all, Dave...I learned something from you and thanks. Honestly...I actually prefer discs because I don't have to deal with getting the (censored) drum off....I owned a '90 F-150 with rear drums and it had a terrible habit of locking up the rear drums very easily because of the dust and debris that built up. The only thing I dislike about rear discs is having to deal with the dust and debris that builds up inside the parking brake drum area...oops, think I am repeating myself here....:laughing:

 

[3930dave]

I hear you JD. I agree with you and Aaron, for many folks, discs are easier to work on.

Well, at least until you stumble into an "inventive" manufacturer that likes to use speciality/strange fastener systems to mount calipers, or requires convoluted procedures to reset the ratchet mechanism on the hydraulics that replaced the separate mechanical Ebrake.

Those new style of hydraulic Ebrake setups seem to the chewed up really bad by our Winter serving of road saline stew here. In some respects, I prefer to have a mechanical Ebrake tucked away under a drum, or rotor "hat".

Way back, my Dad was good about checking drum brakes often. I learned from him, and would do my Mom's car sometimes to give him a break from brakes...... drum metal was better, and way less salt was used here then, so the drums were easy to pull, even for a young lad. Rotors have suffered too over the same time frame; never heard of them splitting in half back in those days.

Discs do have certain design and application advantages. Ex. - if I was regularly launching boats with a truck, I'd want rear discs, as I'd be servicing the whole rear end of the truck often anyway.

Rgds, D.