a spring has popped out of one of the rear drums!!!

[Andy Craig]

First of all my i extend my sincere thanks to Huib, Peter and everyone else who helped put me straight on the Alternator situation.

During the test drive a horrendous 'screech' started at the left rear of the car. I removed the wheel, spun the disk around and a spring pretty much fell out of one of the 'inspection holes' on the drum!! Strangely the disk AND the drum still operate fine, and the springs are still connected to the shoes - so where might this spring have come from?

I looked at removing the caliper and disk/drum but this has been done many times before and the bolts which locate the caliper are almost totally rounded-off. Before i commit to removing them and finding replacement bolts i just thought i'd ask - because with the spring removed everything still works ok as far as i can tell.

Come to think of it - if you know where i can see a diagram of the handbrake mechanism i'm sure it will become clear what has fallen off!

Andy

[bart]

Most likely it is one of the springs that holds the shoes to the plate. These are locked with slotted washers that are mounted by twisting a quarter turn. Nothing to worry about. Just put remove the hub, see if you can still find the washer (or make/buy a new one) and put back on. Or just continue driving without. I once opened a hub and didn't find any springs, and hadn't even noticed.

Bart

[Andy Craig]

Hey Bart,

Looking through the 'slots' in the drum i can see that there is plenty of material on the shoes and plenty on the disks also. If you don't think it's anything to worry about i'll leave it because you can imagine the state of the bolts retaining the caliper - and removing them doesn't look like much fun!

Thanks
Andy

[Huib]

If the spring is the "push" type (space between the windings and no lugs at the ends) then it is the spring holding the shoe against the plate as Bart says. No immediate concern but they are there for a purpose which is counteracting the off centre component of the force from the "pull" springs. If one of the springs is missing the shoe will angle and one side of the lining will act against the drum instead of the whole lining being parallel to the drum face.


If it is a "pull" type of spring (no space between windings and lugs at both ends), then it is one of the two springs retracting the shoes from the drum.

In many case the lining of the shoes does not disappear through wear but simply falls off as the result of rust.