Braille Parking. Brake shoe springs, that is.

[sail_or_drive]

I thought it would be a fun task for a Monday night, put on my parking brake shoes and springs. My first mistake was not taking a picture of it before I took it apart. My second mistake was not purchasing a brake shoe spring tool, I certainly used them lots back in the day. No problem. Until the first spring went bazaanging off into my messy garage. I will have to organize a search party tomorrow night. I kept at it, though.

The question I have is about which spring goes where. There are two, one about half again as beefy as the other. RealOem appears to have the larger spring bridging the adjusting screw, and the smaller bridging what it calls the "Expanding Lock" that attaches to the e-brake cable:

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showpar ... Id=34_0335

I was able to install the springs with some needle nosed vise grips, but the larger of the springs was a bit slack, even after fiddling with the shoes. So I swapped them.


The Larger spring is at the e-brake cable:





The Smaller spring is at the adjuster. When the Larger spring was in this position it barely had tension on it.





Before taking these pictures I put the disc on and tried the e-brake function. It worked, but I am not sure with the springs the way they are it is positioning the shoes as they should be. The springs seem to do a good enough job of retracting them.

Any thoughts?

And yes, I used search and spent some time looking at YouTube videos to get some tips, about 90 minutes in total. I also consulted the Bentley before starting and read the relevant portions of the Brake chapter 2 or three times before starting.

[taavipa]

Large spring at e-brake cable and smaller diameter spring at the adjuster. At least that's how it's been on my cars.

[sail_or_drive]

Thank you sir!

Now if I can just find that spring.

[Blue Shadow]

Always do one and leave the other one alone until the first one is finished. You can use the untouched one as reference.

Vise-grips, really really tight can hold onto those springs as they let loose and you will still have the spring for a second attempt.

Good luck on the hunt.

[demetk]

He'll never find that spring. No one ever does.

[TCBimmer]

Large spring at e-brake cable and smaller diameter spring at the adjuster. At least that's how it's been on my cars.

Another vote for the smaller spring securing the brake shoes at the adjuster. The tension is definitely better and the spring seems to fit in the teeth of the adjuster. One trick I found for getting the springs into place is to pass a small screw driver through the spring hook and then into the slot on the brake shoe. As you raise the screwdriver handle, the spring stretches and eventually the spring hook aligns with the slot. When you reach that point you can just push the spring along the screw driver into the slot and then remove the screwdriver.

I'll try to get a picture this weekend to better illustrate what I mean.

[sail_or_drive]

He'll never find that spring. No one ever does.

You threw down to make me work at it.

Thanks to the rest of you for the help, the E-brakes work like a charm now.

[demetk]

Challenge overcome. You must have a clean garage.