Rear Drum Maintenance

[mwjscn]

Hello everyone! I own a 2000 Mercury Mystique GS with the Zetec.

I recently put new equipment on my front disc brakes and now I am trying to do the rears. I do not have a very hi-spec Mystique, so I have rear drums. I found out that 9" brake shoes are too big to fit within the drums of my car, so I now know I have to order 8" drum shoes (the other option besides 9 was 8 on rockauto). I want to get new drums to do the job right, because I think I warped them a bit trying to get them off and sometimes the car judders.

My question is, should I be ordering the 8" drums to match?

I have access to a lift and do all the work with some mentoring, but sometimes finding the right part is half the battle for me. (I have the service manuals and they told me 9" when I last ordered, but it seemed like those were way too big and didn't align with some of the springs).

 

[jrichardson]

if you got 8" shoes get 8" drums.

 

[royalblue]

measure the inside diameter of the brake drum to find the correct size

 

[HerronScott]

I ran into a similar problem last summer when I picked up brake shoes for our 96. I picked the 9" shoes first and found they were 8" shoes on our car when I went to install them. I exchanged them and ended up also replacing the wheel cylinders and brake hoses (cracked) and had the drums turned at a local machine shop.

I found it was a little tricky getting everything loose with the 8" drums and then back together again but eventually figured it out. It's tight between the hub and the wheel cylinder but once I decided to replace that it made it easier.

Scott

 

[CSVT1214]

If anyone running drums happens to need new rubber lines, I have a set of brand new of Ford lines that I'd sell for cheap.