Parking Brake Rebuild Necessary?

[khjr]

Hi all -

Based on the great disk brake maintenance advice that I've read here on the forum, I'm going to do my first ever brake maintenance (flushing and pad replacement) on my 2006 Pilot next weekend. Although I doubt the rotors need replacement after only 60K, I do plan on pulling them off so that they aren't permanently rusted in place when I need to replace them later.

Given that I'll have the rear rotors off, I'm wondering if I should disassemble the parking brake shoe assembly so that I can clean it and grease the pivots.

I've reviewed the factory service and Haynes manuals, and it appears to be a straight forward process, but I'm somewhat daunted by the fact that I've never worked on drum brakes before. I've seen a host of specialized tools for this at the parts stores, and the web is full of stories from people who've struggled with the clips and springs etc. I'm thinking, however, that the Pilot drum brake might be simpler since it's only used for parking vs. driving.

Questions: Does anyone do this sort of cleaning and greasing on the parking brake assembly during a pad replacement, or is it overkill? If you've done it, how hard is it, and does it require special tools? Lastly, aside from the 2 U clips and wavy washer that I'd need to replace upon reassembly, do I need to buy any additional parts?

[carguy07]

If it looks clean in there I would not touch it at all. If there is a lot of dust built up, maybe spray down with brake cleaner. If you wanted to you could probably pull the shoes forward enough to get a little grease in the pivot points without dissembling anything.

In general, no don't mess with the shoes, they are not doing much anyway. I can tell you for sure that you do not want to make those your first drum brake experience unless you needed to. Drums/shoes are a pain in the a$$ especially when they are half covered by the axle flange.

It's one of those if it ain't broke don't fix it things to me.