Brake Drum Maintenance - 09/05/05

A couple of weeks ago I found that the rear axle was leaking from one end. There was oil running down the tyre and spraying up all round the wheel arch. When I took the brake drum off to have a look I was presented with a nasty oily muddy mess and couldn't tell what was leaking or why. I decided to take everything apart and really clean it up.

Firstly everything had a good scrub in a bucket to get the worst of the muck off and then out came the wire brush.

Mmm shiny is good!

Here's the oil seal in question, all nice and clean now. I bought a new one from the Suzuki dealers before I started but it was the wrong one and the existing one looks fine now it's clean. Fingers crossed it'll be fine when I drive it again!

Once everything was clean I gave it several coats of black hammerite to help protect the metal and make it easier to clean. With the paint dry I put everything back together, all apart from the brake cylinder which I'm going to replace.

Now that I like the look of, everything looks all new and posh now instead of rusty and knackered! I'm going to have to do the other one some time to match!