Soft Pedal After Changing Rear Shoes

[GerryL98]

I did rear brake shoes for the first time ever. I've done front pads on my previous ride more times than I can remember and I don't every remember the brake pedal going soft. Do I just need to bleed the brakes? BTW, what a freaking PITA doing shoes. I had the Haynes manual and it gave zero instruction on reinstalling the retainer spring correctly. I finally figured it out but it was still a struggle.

 

2005 Silverado LT Crew Cab

[jro909]

i got a squeeshy pedal after putting after market rear shoes i'm going to oem next time around

[NV5600]

I did rear brake shoes for the first time ever. I've done front pads on my previous ride more times than I can remember and I don't every remember the brake pedal going soft. Do I just need to bleed the brakes? BTW, what a freaking PITA doing shoes. I had the Haynes manual and it gave zero instruction on reinstalling the retainer spring correctly. I finally figured it out but it was still a struggle.

 

2005 Silverado LT Crew Cab

 

I had a soft pedal after doing brakes on my '05 as well. Now granted, I did much more than just work on the rears but it's probably the same problem for you guys. I bled the brakes and did everything that I could think of to get that firm pedal back. I gave in and called the dealer and asked if they'd take a look at it. My tech said 2 things need to be done in my case. First, those drums will form a ridge around where the shoes contact the drum. The drums need to be machined to remove that. Second, readjustment once the drums are back on is critical. They bled the system and adjusted the rears. He charged me $50 and my brakes have never felt better.

[jro909]

i have disc all the way around so your solution dosen't work for me lol

[ken1mod]

Unlike disks, flat surface of pad on flat surface of rotor, drum brakes have round on round. If there is a bit of imperfection, the break in time can be significant. Just brake easy and the problem will gradually right itself. There is little you can do to speed it up but it will straighten out in a reasonable amount of time.

 

Ken

[txab]

I did rear brake shoes for the first time ever. I've done front pads on my previous ride more times than I can remember and I don't every remember the brake pedal going soft. Do I just need to bleed the brakes? BTW, what a freaking PITA doing shoes. I had the Haynes manual and it gave zero instruction on reinstalling the retainer spring correctly. I finally figured it out but it was still a struggle.

 

2005 Silverado LT Crew Cab

 

 

 

 

Your brakes need to be bled and adjusted. Also, if you didn't replace or machine your drums, that can cause a problem. For you guys that are doing drum brakes, do one side at a time. That way you have the other side to refer to so that everything gets put back in place correctly. No manual needed.

[Matt_]

Definitely need to be adjusted.

 

Since you didn't get the drum machined, the shoes MUST be under-adjusted just to get the drum back on.

 

With the drum on, put on 2 or 3 lug nuts to hold it on/square to help get the adjustment correct.

[GerryL98]

After some driving around and a lot of braking, it appears the softness has gone away. I don't know much about GM's drum system but it looks like the shoes are self adjusting...I'm just basing it on the looks of the assembly. I adjusted them previously in order to get the drum back on. Maybe I over adjusted? Anyhow, I know a brake bleed wouldn't hurt but I think I'll leave that for another day. Thanks everyone.

[Matt_]

I believe they self adjust when you hit the brakes while going in reverse.

 

If they're already starting to firm up then they probably weren't as bad as im envisioning.