Need brake help ASAP

[jonrpick]

Ok, I'm reassembling the rear brakes on my 10-bolt... I'm using all new parts except for the parking brake levers & struts, and the springs for the self adjusters.

The springs are giving me a HUGE problem.

Here's what I'm looking at:

http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/image/49448878

The white spring in the front of the pic simply WILL NOT stretch to go into the self adjuster and the blue link in that pic. (the pic is not of my brakes, it's the guide I'm using)

I managed to pull the spring off the old assembly, and that was tough, but getting it back on seems impossible.

HELP

Oh yeah, I bought a set of "brake spring pliers". How the Hell do you use these? They seem like the most ill-conceived tool known to man, although I know it's because I'm not familiar with how to use them. Are they the right tool for this job?

Please advise me...

 

[jonrpick]

I knew posting would provide a solution...

I looked around and grabbed a big punch and got it under the hook of the spring, then just leveraged, and leveraged more, then gave it Hell and it snapped into place.

BTW, I don't see that it matters much, but which shoe should face the front of the truck? Is it the one with more material on it? Because that made sense to me and it looks like it's the one that provides the parking brake function, and therefore more material will hold better.

 

[USSkoval]

I think the rear shoe is supposed to be the one with more material... once again, I think.

 

[jonrpick]

I think the rear shoe is supposed to be the one with more material... once again, I think.

I did a lot of Googling, and I think you're right, although there seem to be mixed opinions...

 

[dremu]

Oh. We forgot to tell you The Secret with drum brakes.

Do one side at a time.

This way when you get the pieces wrong -- which always happens -- you go to the other side and look where they're supposed to be, remembering to mirror left-to-right when you get to the other side.It's a pain, especially if you're cleaning and painting all the pieces purty ... but I do them so rarely I never 'member what goes where.-- A

 

[jonrpick]

Oh. We forgot to tell you The Secret with drum brakes.

Do one side at a time.

This way when you get the pieces wrong -- which always happens -- you go to the other side and look where they're supposed to be, remembering to mirror left-to-right when you get to the other side.It's a pain, especially if you're cleaning and painting all the pieces purty ... but I do them so rarely I never 'member what goes where.-- A

Well that wasn't possible... they were yanked out of the axle months ago when I was removing it to rebuild it. I just figured I'd rebuild the brakes while I was at it. I found a good online guide, that shows where the parts go in order, but offered no tips on stretching the springs onto their mounts.

I came up with a way that worked.

Oh, and now the shoe with less material faces forward. I'm pretty sure that's right.

At this point, I'm considerably better at doing the brakes though!

I had to build the 1st one, tear it down and reverse the shoes, and rebuild it...then build the passenger side. All in all, it worked out well. Now I just need new brake lines.