Video how-to, Rear drum brake service - Parking brake fix.

[ZX2Fast]

I haven't seen one recently that comes with that spring. As long as you don't break it, you can re-use it.

[Meta]

Discovered my back right brake only works when I have the brake pedal all the way to the floor. The other 3 brakes operate normally. Haven't had a chance to get around to the brakes yet, any idea what could cause that brake to only move when the brake pedal is floored?

[ZX2Fast]

A sticking spreader would do this as well as a bad wheel cylinder.

[Meta]

Spreader as in the Adjuster?

[ZX2Fast]

No, the spreader at the top that pushes the shoes out. It is what the wheel cylinder pushes against.

[TracerZX2]

Very nice write up. Wish I would have had access to this 8 years ago when I did my first set. Chilton's will drive you nuts.

Tracy

[Meta]

I followed your write up to the letter including replacing each wheel cylinder, im also pretty sure the old wheel cylinders had a stuck spreader(?) on each side. My shoe wear was very uneven, one shoe on each drum was worn down to almost nothing while the other still had ~4mm of material left. I also replaced the driver side caliper. Replaced passenger side caliper about 3 months ago.

So with the car off I press on the pedal a couple of times to press the caliper piston out and of course the pedal sinks all the way down and after a few pumps I feel it tighten up. Messed up the processor bleeding one of the master cylinder lines (per haynes manual) by not closing the line fitting twice when the pedal was let up so a tiny bit of air sounded like it made it in. So I restarted and bleed one of the lines from the master cylinder properly till no air or bubbles was being pushed out.

Moved on to the wheels and bleed them easy. I was using a mighty vac hand pump and pumped the bleeder valves in proper order till no air bubbles were seen in the fluid for each wheel.

Now my brake pedal feels completely different from before. My brakes are engaging but requires my brake pedal being pushed a good couple inches further than before the repairs. Is that normal operation? I was riding around on messed up drum brakes for so long im not sure if the old wheel cylinders I replaced were stuck and made my brake pedal feel "stiff" from not being able to expand? Also when the parking brake is on the pedal feels "tighter." When before it did not.

The brake pedal is tight compared to the first few pumps after replacing everything but still softer than before repairs. Thanks for the write up by the way! Getting those drums off was a damn nightmare.

[ZX2Fast]

You said you bled the master cylinder line. Are you saying you removed a line from the master cylinder? The vacuum bleeder is nice to use and fast, but still not as good as a good ol' fashioned pressure bleed where you make some poor sap pump the brake pedal while you bleed it.

[Meta]

I didnt remove any of the lines, just loosened the nut on the line that connects to the master cylinder pointing toward the front of the car.

[Meta]

Ok did another bleed. This time I took off the center air intake tube so I could reach all of the master cylinder hydraulic line fittings. Loosened and bleed all 4 of them. Got a few bubble out.

Went around and bleed each wheel, got what looks like a lot of tiny bubbles out of the driver side caliper I replaced. Used a hand pump vac again so dunno if that was causing it to look like it was air from the lines.

Brake pedal still feels the same, not spongy or "soft" just not as tight as before. However the pedal doesn't shudder when slowing down as it did before the replacements.

Pedal goes to about halfway to the floor before I can feel the pads/shoes start to bite and the car lunges forward, before that I can feel some slight engagement of the brakes. I can lock up my wheels, at least my front wheels if I stomp on the brakes.

Maybe its just how the ZX2 stock brakes feel? Im not having problems stopping or anything its just different...

[ZX2Fast]

I'm still not sure why you removed or loosened any of the lines at the master cylinder. You could need a new master cylinder, not because you loosened a line, but because it is wore out.

The pedal on my black car travels halfway before I feel engagement and I can lock them up if pressed hard enough too. Of course, the master cylinder on that car is 13 years old. The green car had a rebuilt MC on it and it would bite sooner. It also had 4-wheel disc so that might have something to do with it.

At this point, do you think there is any of the old brake fluid left in the car?

[Meta]

I was following the bleeding instructions in the Haynes manual.

My zx2 is a 99' with 191k miles.

Ive bleed the brakes 3 times in the past 3 months. The brake fluid I get outta the bleeder screws and when I loosened the fittings on the MC is clean. I never let the levels in the MC go below minimum when I was bleeding the lines. Cycled about 4 cylinders worth of fluid through the bleeding process.

My front brakes are the only ones that seem to lock up when I look at the skid marks on the pavement?

[ZX2Fast]

A Haynes manual makes good kindling. The front brakes always lock up before the rear. I'm guessing you still have drum brakes in the rear. You'll have trouble getting those to lock up on dry pavement.