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martinb

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I've replaced the rear brake cylinders as the previous one were rusted and seized (the car has not moved for 10ish years).  However, with the new cylinders in place I can't replace the brake drum - it will no longer fit over the brake shoes.  Any suggestions what I need to do to solve this?

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First remove hand brake linkage attached to rear brake levers, this helps. If you have not disturbed anything other than change brake cylinder then it should just be a matter of light tapping on the shoes as you centralise the drum back onto the studs. If this does not work make sure you have backed off the brake adjuster (with the squared end) to allow shoes to then enter the drum. Its quite straight forward.  

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Yup - it's likely to be the adjusters at the bottom. They will have been adjusted to take account of the wear on the old shoes and will now be pushing the shoes out too far. You can adjust them using a 'special' brake tool or you can be a cheapskate like me and use the drive side of a 1/4 inch drive socket while you 'drive' the socket side with an allen key. It works a treat!  :)

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Only the cylinders were replaced, not the shoes.  The adjusters fortunately are well greased and not seized, although I haven't adjusted them.  Since the adjusters and shoes haven't changed, I can only imagine the pistons in the cylinders are sticking out more than the pistons in the old cylinders.  These don't seem to want to move by normal thumb pressure, so I wasn't sure if there was a way to push the pistons further into the cylinders (if, indeed, this would be a wise thing to do).

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Check the handbrake mechanism isn't seized or in need of backing off. Once you are confident everything is moving freely then there is no reason why the shoes should not fit, but you might need to centralise the shoes to allow the drum to go on. Oh, and are the return springs strong enough to do their job?

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