How to release rear drum on Peugeot 107?

[TM]

Its been a long time since I had to mess with drum brakes, but my daughters car has a dragging/sticking rear shoe and several attempts to get the drum off to investigate have got me nowhere. I've tapped, smacked and levered the drum and it now is free to rotate but only moves away from the hub a mm or so. I reckon its caught on the actual shoes as it feels springy. In the old days you could poke a screwdriver into a hole and rewind the self adjusting star wheel, but not so on these cars.

I put it all back together as it seemed to be 'fixed' but yesterday I moved it on the drive and it seems to be sticking again.

Any idea how to get the drum off, anyone?

[TM]

Hi John, I had a squint at the manual in Halfords and it simply describes taking it off as if in pristine condition, no mention of any issues that may arise such as not being able to get to the star wheel. I did see online that it can sometimes be accessed via a bolt hole, but I've tried and it's impossible to see anything so I'm poking about in the dark really, which could release a spring or such, then I'm buggered.

I'm loathe to take it to a garage for this, but could be the only option.

[TM]

Hi chaps. All advice gratefully taken.

I saw the bolt method as I trawled the web after I posted but as the car is not on the drive at the moment I cant say if it works or not.

Not sure about the puller tool, surely that would need to be pulling the drum away from the hub? Looking at the pix on ebay it fits to the wheel bolts so is then effectively clamping the drum to the hub?

I've already done the beating it with a hammer routine (my default practice if WD40 can't be used) , which loosened it but wont allow it to actually come completely off.

Looks llike the best idea is to try the ' bolt through the little holes to push the drum off ' method, however as the drum is ( or was) already loose/spinning but perhaps stuck on a lip, this may just rip the shoes off too. I'll let you know.

Damn silly design!

Edited by TM on Tuesday 6th November 15:24

[TM]

Unfortunately the 107 has no such access hole or any method of getting access.

[TM]

OK, thanks for that. I couldn't see anything before so when I'm able to get time to get back on it I'll have another look. There has to be a way.

[TM]

Tried the 'two bolts and push the drum off' routine and it iisn't working as the drum is springing against the shoes. Tried the 'poking a screwdriver and pushing the lever off the peg' idea and not working either. I'm expecting it to 'click' off and release the shoes but there is no movement at all, the lever jjust seems to flex as I push it towards the backplate.

Its going to be a destructive process it seems......new shoes etc and hope no damage to anything else in there.

[TM]

Got the drum offf now and there is no lip but a very slight score, not enough to cause an issue but what I did find is that the piston is only working on one side, the tralling shoe. Its not pushing out eqiually, in fact it's quite seized on the leading shoe.

I can see the star wheel now, it could possibly be accessed via a bolt hole at around the 1oclock if needed but operates via a thin piece of spring metal that would need to be levered away first. Not easy to do through a bolt hole.

Looking for a local stockist of a piston now.

[TM]

I meant cylinder, I just called it a piston because of the one that was seized.
Got a couple in case the other side needs doing as I now notice that the N/S wheel is slightly resisitant to turnng by hand so will be looking at that tomorrow. It frees up after a few taps with a hammer but after a drive, it is sticky again.

The whole saga of not being able to get the drum off seems to be down to the fact that the wheel cylinder leading piston was seized in the semi applied state, so although a few whacks with a hammer seemed to free it, it must have moved it a very slight amount, enough to turn the drum by hand. Afer applying the handbrake or brakes, it all centred and wouldnt turn again.

Slacking of the handbrake cable as much as possible, then tapping the drum a few times prior to using two bolts in the threaded holes in the drum was enough to get the drum off in the end. I was prepared for destruction so just kept turning the bolts and little by little the drum came off. It was springy and tight, but it came off.

[TM]

Cheers paintman. Just so you know, even with the drum off it was not really possible to push the lever peg stop to any meaningful point. I've got some pix, I'll upload when I can.

[TM]

Edited by TM on Tuesday 13th November 20:12

[TM]

[TM]

[TM]

[TM]

Typical....went for drive this morning and it seemed the handbrake was pulling more on one side than the other. Jacked it up and the side I've 'fixed' is not really doing much on the handbrake.

Take it all off again..........

[TM]

I have. It works on one side but not the other. I'm about to go out and take it apart to see what I can see, but I'm just wondering about the star wheel adjuster which I assume automatically adjusts to compensate for shoe wear.

Does it play a part in the handbrake action because the brakes themselves seem ok? (not been tested on a rolling road though)

Edited by TM on Wednesday 14th November 09:34

[TM]

Paintmans input would be useful.

I've just been out and the handbrake lever works fine ( observed with the aid of a mirror as i'm operating it inside the car). It operates the rear ( trailing) shoes which would then push the leading shoe via the adjuster rod. Of course this only happens with the drum in place because then as the trailing shoe pushes against the drum it can only go so far then the other shoe pushes the other way vvia the rod. Thats how I see it anyway.

I therefore slackened everything off, wedged the top of the shoes open or else the starwheel (which is a flimsy thing) won't budge and then adjusted the starwheel to roughly where it was prior to yesterday. The HB works better now, so jjust going to take the drum off the other side to see if everything is in a similar place.

[TM]

The cylinder on the other wheel is also seized, so I'll replace that before going on to make any more adjustments. That is why that wheel was slightly resistant to turning by hand.

First, a cup of tea.

[TM]

Both cylinders done now, but notice the drum is still dragging a bit. The other side that was initially causing trouble turns easily. Maybe I need to reduce the adjuster on this side a little, to increase shoe/drum clearance but I would have thought that the bleeding process would sort all that out or perhaps I have to reset the adjuster frst?
Cant work out how the adjuster is designed to operate. It's just a threaded bar, with a starwheel on it and is feebly braced with a piece of thin metal acting as a ratchet stop. How does it operate automatically? Does the starwheel literally vibrate around each time there is some freeplay?

Edited by TM on Wednesday 14th November 13:18

[TM]

Seems like they are both Ok now. I could take the wheel and drum off in my sleep the amount of times I've done it to set the adjusters so they are the same.

Another worry has arisen now. I did an oil/filter change yesterday and now there is a bad grating, dry sound now and again from the engine. Sounds like a dry bearing. Like it has no oil in the engine.

The old oil was at least three years old and was black. It was also only about halfwway up the stick. The new oil is 5-40 Fully Synth as recommended by Shell for this engine. Research tells me that the engine will accept anything from 5-30 to 10 40, so I cant see that I've put the 'wrong' oil in. It was fine yesterday after the change, but there was a slight noise when first started which I put down to the new oil finding its way around the engine.

I'll go to my local garage and let them have a listen, but it won't do it on demand I'll bet.

Edited by TM on Wednesday 14th November 15:00

[TM]

Thanks Mike, for the explanation. The flimsy metal strip (with the L shaped bit on it I imagine?) just seems so thin that it couldn't do anything. Old tech, great innit.
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Regarding the noise, I was thinking that it might be the timing chain pulleys/sprockets, but the garage were not able to pinpoint it because it failed to perform, but it did make a short appearance, enough for them to say that it wasn't engine related or least most likely not. They too suggested that it was ancilliary, maybe the water pump.

I drove it into town to pick up my daughter, whose car it is, and it was quiet as a mouse. Suddenly, after stopping for fuel, it started this howling, wailing noise that increases with RPM. Back on the drive, I sprinkled some water on the various pulleys and it eventually quietened for a few seconds, but I doubt it's the belt. The noise is back now and isn't going away so that will be a job for next week. Will have to find out which bit is making the noise first, so off with the belt and all that.....