Removing rear brake drum on '04 Vue

[tjpengineer]

I have a passenger rear side squeak and tried to remove the brake drum to investigate. I saw no way to back off the shoe starwheel to relieve pressure to get drum off. Id rather not bash the drum off to check it out and ruin it. Any suggestions? Also, any experience with rear squeaks, seems to be most prominent up hills and under acceleration. Im thinking rear bearing???

[far2grumpy]

See attached files for rear drum brakes ... the adjuster mechanism apparently can't be accessed externally. A real kick-in-the-butt for the DIY crowd.

I keep my sanity by recalling how I had to beat the drums off my 93 Cherokee with a 10 pound sledge and a chunk of landscape timber. That truck had adjusters but they'd corroded into a mass of congealed metal.

Good luck.

[Dante]

See attached files for rear drum brakes ... the adjuster mechanism apparently can't be accessed externally. A real kick-in-the-butt for the DIY crowd.

I keep my sanity by recalling how I had to beat the drums off my 93 Cherokee with a 10 pound sledge and a chunk of landscape timber. That truck had adjusters but they'd corroded into a mass of congealed metal.

Good luck.

While the attached instructions are a good visual, I don't think they really answer the question. When I was doing my front brakes a while back, I tried to pull the drum off one side and found it wouldn't budge... I didn't have the handbrake on, and I know it works and doesn't drag, because I could spin the rear tires easily enough, but that drum seemed to just be fused on there. I did tap it with a 1 pound brass hammer from the back and some dust came out onto the garage floor, but the drum never moved forward on the studs at all.

I wasn't really out to work on them, so I just called it a day, but I know at some point, they've gotta come off!

[kevo420]

mine were on there pretty hard when i bought my 05 used. they needed a pounding to get off.

as long as you hit the right spots you aren't going to ruin anything... They aren't made of tin.

[YourMainParadox]

I used to work at the toyota dealer and I took it light on the first few rear brake jobs but then I just went at it with the hammer .. not gonna brake (hehe) anything they are strong.