The other day I replaced my rear brake shoes (Also inspecting the assembly due to the fact the car has 164k miles, and the rear brakes have NEVER been done!), replaced the hardware, and checked my adjustments before putting it all back together. The job alone took me over three hours (And I've done drums in my other cars fairly quickly - This Civic is a pain-in-the-*** when it comes to repairs LOL), and once completed, for good measure I bled the brakes, and topped off my brake fluid reservoir. I get in, start the car, and my pedal goes almost all the way to the floor! I'm scratching my head, wondering if I missed anything, so decide to drive down the length of my driveway backwards, and slam on the brakes, hoping to adjust them this way. Well, THAT didn't work, so I took my rear drums off AGAIN, and did a little more adjusting, replaced everything, bled the system, and once again the rear brakes don't seem to be working (The e-brake is completely useless since I changed the shoes). Anyone have any idea what could be the issue, and is there a way to adjust the shoes WITHOUT having to take off the rim, etc, like most NORMAL drum setups?

 

How did you bleed the brakes?

Sometimes when you have an old brake master cylinder and bottom out the pedal when bleeding you can mess up the seal in the master cylinder.

Or you just allowed air to get sucked back into the lines.

 

I had someone pumping/pushing to the floor, while I was doing bleeds on every wheel ...

 

you probably did something wrong.. re-check it.. it should be adjust with drum on, adjusting from the back slot.. as with all thread, pix will greatly help..

 

My first guess would be it's put together wrong, such as switching parts intended for the right side to the left and vice versa.

With the drum off, pre-set the adjusters until the drum barely fits on over the shoes. The hand brake should have some grip even if the hydraulic system is not working.

 

Just took both drums/brake assemblies off, and re-did them (I had a friend's '97 Civic at the house to compare to this time) - On the driver's side, my adjustments are perfect, and it was an easy process ... The passenger's side, however, is being a major PITA - I have the adjustment bar all the way closed, and still had to struggle to get the drum back on (The driver's side is adjusted out about 3mm for a little less than one turn of the wheel before it 'sticks') - Compared to my friend's Civic, everything looks exactly the same, but HIS rear brakes work, and mine STILL do not! Once I put the rims back on, and did a short test run, there is no affect at all when I pull my e-brake. I still have my front brakes working, so I can still drive the car, but I'd feel a hell of a lot better with all FOUR brakes working! Any suggestions at all? I've spent the past two hours Googling this, and couldn't find anything even CLOSE to my problem o_O

Edit: This is the side that doesn't seem to want to cooperate o_O

 

did you reconnect the hand brake cable back to the brake shoe?

 

Yes I did ...

 

Figured I'd post back in here about my 'progress' - I managed to get the back brakes 'working', to an extent, but I still have about four inches of play in my brake pedal before they catch - I have bled the system three times already, and all I'm doing is wasting fluid - Is there some way I can get my pedal 'tighter', if bleeding the brakes fails to do so?