HELP After Rear Bearing Change, Can't get Parking Brake Shoes and Disk/Drum back On

[chomowitz]

I have a 1990 BMW E30 325i 4 door sedan. I have nearly completed a replacement of the left rear wheel bearings. As I was buttoning up, I have run into problems reinstalling the parking brake shoes and then the drum/disc piece. I thought I did things right with the shoe spring retainers (2x) and the interconnecting springs, but the shoes aren't seating as they were when I disassembled. The drum doesn't fit on right, and if I do get it on it feels like the brake shoes are engaged, because the drum won't turn at all.

So far I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong ... The shoes just aren't sitting right.

Can someone point me to a step by step procedure for reinstalling the parking brake shoes and drum/disc or help me discover what I'm missing on the reinstall.

One thing that I did was remove was the lower park brake initiator that connects to the cable from the park brake. I think I put it back together as it was, but after my problems, it's possible I did something wrong.

NOTE: On my E30, there is a bracket that bolts behind the lower initiator with a lip that runs below the initiator. The park brake cable and connector to the lower initiator pass through this bracket. Some of the YouTube videos on Replacing Rear Bearings on an E30 don't seem to show this bracket. Not sure why BMW has that bracket. Any ideas on this?

Any and all suggestions will be welcome. Thank you in advance for your help ...

[sienayr]

I seem to recall having issues with this too, but it's been years since I did it. Maybe make sure the shoes aren't on upside down, backwards hardware, something like that? I think it was something dumb that I did.

[dworthy]

+1

Also check to make sure the handbrake is down as well. Big spring in the bottom by the cable, and small spring up top by the adjuster. You may need to release some of the cable tension as well.

[chomowitz]

Thanks to all for your feedback.

As it turns out I have resolved my problems reinstalling the park brake shoe assembly.

I took all the components (2 shoes, upper adjustable brake shoe spacer, 2x connecting springs, 2x spring loaded guide bolts, lower park brake spacer/initiator and the lower initiator bracket) and laid them out on a flat surface. I determined that the pieces DO GO TOGETHER to fit inside the park brake drum. Given that, I carefully reassembled the components on the wheel. I found that the key issue is the positioning of the bottom actuator. If its high or low, or left or right of where it should be the shoes don't seat correctly. Bottom line ... When I was done, the park brake drum when on over the shoes as they should and the park brake operated correctly.

This assembly is a tricky one to get right (in my opinion). No surprise, these E30s have many such challenges.

Thanks again to everyone, but I'm all set now.

[dworthy]

Glad to hear it worked out!

What I have noticed that works great, and give me a lot less fight it to assemble it on a table before installing. I put the adjuster with the small spring in, then work it around the hub. Once seated, I will install the 2 tie-downs going thru a lug hole to set them. After that the large spring is pretty easy to install, if you notice how it has a small hook on it, that so you can set the end in place and then tap it in the rest of the way.