I went to the stealership to get my oil changed last week ($10 oil changes ) and they told me that my rear brakes were heat cracked and need to be replaced. This may be a stupid question, but are the rear brakes pads or drum and how difficult is it to replace them? Thanks.

 

they are drums but there are small pads on inside from what i believe if you take the asembly apart you will see an idk about how hard it is if you had the book it might be easy

 

All XJ rears were drums. Replacing the drums and shoes is not a very big deal.

 

So do I need to replace both th drums and the shoes inside? Are there any other parts I need to replace?

 

Not unless the slave cylinders are leaking. You should be good with drums and shoes.

 

Cool. Thanks for the help. I'll prob try to tackle this little project over the weekend. Thanks again.

 

You HAVE to replace the drums with the shoes?

 

95 cherokee, I hear ya. I figured I'd just have to replace the shoes.

 

You don't HAVE to replace the drums when you do the shoes it depends on how old the drums are. There is a max diameter the drum can be and if it is over that they need to be replaced...I don't remember what that particular measurement is but if I'm not mistaken it is engraved on the drum.

When you do this you want to get the hardware kit from autozone or something that includes springs and what not its just always a good idea to replace these as worn spring can cause your brakes to not function to full potential.

The job overall is not that tough make sure you pay attention how everything comes off I usually spend twice the time on the first one. I find when dissasembling and reassembling putting a belt or strap of some sort around the shoes keeps everything in place nicely.

Good Luck!

 

probably why the oil change was only $10! get people in and find bigger $$$ jobs! good luck on the brakes.....

 

Thanks Tim. I saw the rear brake repair kit your talking about. It's only like 8 bucks so I'll be getting it also. Any other tips would be great.

 

hey squirrely. It's actually a great deal. They have a basic 10 dollar oil change or a full service for 34 bucks. With that they rotate tires change oil and air filter and check the brake system. Every other time I get the basic and am out of there for just a 10 dollar bill, pretty sweet.

 

That is a great deal....just sayin--there's a reason they have them! Take advantage of it for sure!!

 

Just to chime in, you don't always have to replace the drums, depends on the wear, XJ drums are stamped on the drum with the max wear diameter. From experience, you get a whole lot of miles out of them before you have to replace them. Even if they are gouged deep, you might be able to have the auto parts store turn them, in ny it's about 10 bucks a drum.

 

I just replaced the shoes in mine, had to do wheel cylinders too. Wow what a difference. just make sure you get the adjusters set correctly.