I like to work on my car myself, and I am very good at changing disc brakes. But I have never had a car that has drum brakes. However, as you all know, the Bonneville does. I was looking at some videos on Youtube for guidance, but drum brake replacement looks like a headache.. and one that I don't want from brakes. So before I actually decide to pay someone to do it, just to avoid the headache. Am I over reacting to what I just seen? Normal brake replacement for the fronts take me around 15 minutes... if that. So Im pretty good. I just want to hear if its bad or not and what timing I can expect for my first time.

_________________


1996 Bonneville SSEI "MeanGreen BonneB" - 121k Miles

Depends on how rusty everything is....

_________________
Bye Bye:

RIP sandrock

When I had drums I usually planned on everything needing replacement. Wheel cylinder, adjusters, shoes, drum. The whole thing. Only once did I have to return any parts.

_________________
02 SSEi-Turning money into tire smoke, very efficiently.

I would take it somewhere. I can do a lot of things myself, but I know my limits and I stick to them mostly. If you have a spare car and some time, go for it, it'll help you learn. Otherwise drums can be a pain sometimes.

Agreed with Randy too. Just plan on everything. Drum brakes last a while generally, so if you do it all at once you won't have to worry about a wheel cylinder leaking or something random down the line.

_________________
Will
88 Cutlass Ciera Brougham International | 120k mi | White w/ Dk Claret Int. | Roller to be S2 L67/4T65E-HD | 1 of ~5100 3.8 FE3 Int'l series
91 Riviera | S2 L67 Swap/4T60E | 127K mi | Antelope Met. w/ Tan Int. | Saved From Death By Crusher
92 Bonneville SSE | L67/4T60E | 77K mi | Med Slate Grey w/ Two-Tone Grey Int. | Low Miles Time Capsule
92 Lumina Z34 | LQ1/4T60E | 177k mi | Torch Red w/Grey Int. | Rusty In Odd Spots
99 Tahoe LT | L31/4L65E | 276k mi | Spiral Grey Metallic w/Grey Int. | Truck for Truck Things and Portable Concert Hall
03 Park Avenue Ultra | 212K mi | White Diamond Met. w/ Shale Int. | Southern Time Capsule
05 Acura RL | 155K mi | Carbon Grey Pearl w/Ebony Int. | The Super-Hooptie Daily

For me they are the back of my hand. Super easy but as said we all have our limits

_________________
1995 se
128,101
custom FWI
rt-95 rims look kinda like crosslaces
6000k hids
f- body muffler dual output
96-99 headlight conversion, clear markers

In the world of drum brakes, I always found these to be really easy. Depends on your own comfort zone.

_________________

92 Olds 98. L67, Gen 3 M62, 2.55 pulley, FWI, PLIM, 1.8 YTs.

Here is a vid on a lesabre, which will be the same: http://youtu.be/8pKrRfzPvlc

these are very easy drum setups to work with, not like others that have springs going everywhere.

if you still want to take it in after the vid, by all means.

_________________
~Randall~


1993 Buick Park Avenue - 197k - Some odds and ends done - Simply won't die
1994 Buick Regal - 78k - Bone stock - Always ready for a good kicking
1990 Oldsmobile 88 - Gone to a better place

On the '53 Ford F100 my family owns, maintaining the drum brakes is a huge pain, especially since we cant find the tool that we bought that makes it a breeze!
If my dad hadnt shown me how to do it, I would have never wanted to touch drum brakes, and I still heavily prefer disc brakes, just because they are so much easier to work on.

Good luck with the brakes, though! Hope they arent too rusty down there

_________________
Kelvin VanderVeen

PERFORMANCE MODS
180 DEGREE THERMOSTAT, AUTOLITE 104'S, ZZP VOLTAGE BOOSTER
APPEARANCE MODS
LED INTERIOR LIGHTS, TAN INTERIOR TRIM, CLEARED CORNERS

Drums aren't that hard...

_________________
Bye Bye:

RIP sandrock

Thanks for the video. Better for my car than the one I found.

They don't seem like they are. Just seems like it can be irritating dealing with the springs during the first time. But I trust myself to do it more rather than a shop, so I may take a shot at it.

_________________


1996 Bonneville SSEI "MeanGreen BonneB" - 121k Miles

Yeah, they're definitely not THAT hard. It's simple, just take a picture before you start, so you know how to put it back together.

I agree, get EVERYTHING. They're guaranteed to be rusty.

_________________
Bye Bye:

RIP sandrock

Give the nuts on the z-shaped little hard line between the hoses and the cylinders a good shot on penetrating oil as soon as you can access them. They can be difficult to remove from the cylinder, and are very difficult to remake if you round the nut off.

_________________

WHITE WHINE - 1992 SSE Supercharged 236.26 ci (.040 Over) 15.090 at 90.2 MPH on old engine w/ slipping trans & melted O2 sensor - Gen 3 M62 and matching TB, Gen 2 Pully, Zillamotorsports Ported LIM, YT 1.72 Roller Rockers, SII FPR & Injectors, Hypertech Thermomaster chip w/ 160 Thermo, TransGo Shift Kit, Infinity/Pioneer Speakers & a 10" Alpine Type R Sub, all the watts, 140 amp Alternator, Ricepipe CAI w/ heatshield, Pilot Angel Eye Foglights, Clear Corners, '02 17" Chrome Bent 5's, Magnaflow F-Body Muffler and Hi-flo Cat, Ceramic Coated Ported Exhaust Manifolds, Fan Override, Monroe Reflex struts, red calipers
2009 G8 GT - Sport Red Metallic, loaded, SOLO Axlebacks, Rotofab Intake, Tuned, autodim mirror, removed intake manifold cover, HSV GTS triple gauge pod, two tone red-hot shifter and HSV SuperSport steering wheel, GXP rear sway bar and diffuser, 3.45 diff and various Camaro suspension bits, LED Taillights

Make sure to have the proper sized fitting wrench (2 more flats on it than a standard wrench) to remove the fittings, or you're almost guaranteed to round them off...

_________________
Bye Bye:

RIP sandrock

I have found, from working on rusty junk at the dealership, that a properly placed and tightened vice grip on the fittings and bleeders will break things loose far better than a wrench can. You know that the wrench is going to round off the hex when applying too much force. The vice grip won't slip as easily.

If it were me doing it, depending on how rusty things looked, I'd leave the wheel cylinder alone and just do the shoes, not unless you are ready to make new brake lines too. It's happened, just sayin'.

Leon

_________________

2006 GTO
2005 GXP Bonneville (his) (SOLD)
2004 SLE Bonneville (hers)
2004 SLE Bonneville (sons)
2006 GXP Grand Prix (sons)
1998 SLE GMC Sierra
1991 Yamaha FJ1200
1983 Trans Am (SOLD)
1979 Trans Am

Id prefer old school drums as opposed to hat style rear discs where the ebrake shoes are in the rotors. Those are horrible in our climate. Another design uses the caliper as the park brake, but those seem to wear the pads faster, stick easily, and caliper replacement is horrible expensive .

When you get the drums off, make sure you machine the drums or replace them or they will be a pain to get back on and adjust due to the rust ridge inside the drum.

_________________
93 Buick Park Avenue
09 Pontiac Vibe AWD
01 Pontiac Sunfire GTX
84 Chevrolet Citation