Rear Brake Shoes - Renewal; Rear Brake Components With Drum Removed - Opel Kadett Owner's Manual

9•6 Braking system
5.3 Driving out a rear disc pad retaining pin
middle of the vehicle (see illustration).
Recover the spring.
4 Remove the pads from the caliper. If they
are tight, use a slide hammer or grip them with
self-locking pliers.
5 Clean the caliper with a soft wire brush,
paying attention to the warning at the
beginning of this operation.
6 In order to accommodate the new thicker
pads, the caliper piston must be depressed
fully into its cylinder using a flat bar of metal
such as a tyre lever. The action of depressing
the piston will cause the fluid in the reservoir
to rise, so anticipate this by syphoning some
off using an old (clean) hydrometer or similar.
7 Inspect the brake disc for deep grooving,
scoring or cracks. Renew the disc, or have it
refinished if this is possible, if such damage is
found. Excessive run-out may be caused by
wheel bearing play, so bearing adjustment
should be checked before assuming that the
disc is at fault.
8 Apply a little disc brake anti-squeal or
6.5a Rear brake components with drum removed
1 Strut
2 Thermoclip
3 Adjuster pinion
4 Adjuster lever
5 Adjuster lever spring
6 Adjuster lever bracket
7 Handbrake lever
8 Upper return spring
5.9a Fitting a rear pad
anti-seize compound to the backs of the new
pads, and to the sides of the backplate. Be
careful not to get any on the friction surface.
9 Insert the pads into the caliper with the
friction material towards the disc. Fit one
retaining pin (from the inside towards the
outside) and tap it home. Hook one end of the
spring under the pin (see illustrations).
10 Fit the other pin and tap it home, holding
the other end of the spring down with a
screwdriver so that the pin passes over it.
11 Repeat the operations on the opposite
brake.
12 Refit the roadwheels and lower the
vehicle.
13 Apply the footbrake hard several times to
position the pads against the discs.
14 Top-up the fluid reservoir to the correct
level.
15 New brake pads need to be carefully
bedded in and, where possible, heavy braking
should be avoided during the first 120 miles
(200 km).
5.9b Hooking the spring under one
retaining pin

6 Rear brake shoes - renewal

Warning: Drum brake shoes
must be renewed on both rear
wheels at the same time - never
renew the shoes on only one
wheel as uneven braking may result. Also,
the dust created by wear of the shoes may
contain asbestos, which is a health hazard
Never blow it out with compressed air and
don't inhale any of it. An approved filtering
mask should be worn when working on the
brakes. DO NOT use petroleum based
solvents to clean brake parts. Use brake
cleaner or methylated spirit only.
1 Remove the brake drum (Section 9).
2 Working carefully and taking the necessary
precautions, remove all traces of brake dust
from the brake drum, backplate and shoes.
3 Measure the depth from the friction material
to each of the rivets. If this is equal or less than
the specified minimum, all four shoes must be
renewed as a set. Also, the shoes should be
renewed if any are fouled with oil or grease;
there is no satisfactory way of degreasing
friction material once contaminated.
4 If any of the brake shoes are worn unevenly
or fouled with oil or grease, trace and rectify
the cause before reassembly. If the shoes are
to be renewed proceed as described below. If
all is well refit the drums (Section 9).
5 Remove the steady pins, springs and
washers by depressing the washers and
turning them anti-clockwise. Renew them if
they are damaged (see illustrations).
6.5b Brake shoe steady pin and washer
(arrowed)