Mazda Protege 9th Generation – Replacing Rear Drum Brakes
Applies To:
1998 – 2003 Mazda Protege
Vehicle In This Guide:
1999 Mazda Protege ES / 1.8L engine / 115,000 miles
Removing The Drums And Shoes
1. Once you have the wheel removed you will have to take out the screws that hold the drum to the wheel hub. Be careful with these because they are easy to strip. Don’t bother using a screw driver – get yourself a socket and carefully remove the screw. We stripped two of our screws and had to drill them out to continue. Once the screws are removed grab a BIG hammer and give the drum a couple of good whacks to free it from the hub. 
2. With the drum removed you will want to start by removing the top return spring and bottom return spring (1). Finally remove the holding pin and spring by twisting the pin (2). 
3. With all of the springs removed you can now remove the leading shoe. Continue by removing the adjuster that is held by a spring as well.< 
4. With the adjuster out of the way remove the spring that holds the emergency brake lever. Continue by removing the c-clip that holds the trailing shoe to the emergency brake lever. With the c-clip gone you can now remove the trailing shoe. 
Installing The Rear Drum Brakes
1. You will have to move the adjuster back to account for the new brake shoes. 
2. Before installing any new parts make sure to apply grease to these points.< 
3. Install the trailing shoe and secure with the c-clip. Also install the spring that holds the emergency brake lever. Finally install the holding pin and spring to keep the trailing shoe from moving.
4. Install the adjuster.
5. Install the leading shoe and the holding pin and spring.
6. Install both of the return springs.
7. You may have to move the adjuster back a little more to create room for the drum.
8 Comments
Thanks for posting that, it was very helpful.
Just changed the brake shoes on my 2003 protege. Thanks for walking me through it. One question though, my parking brake doesnt seem to grab at all. I tried going in reverse pumping the parking brake and do noticeable difference? Can you shed any light on readjustment?
Thanks again!
I would take off one of the drums and make sure that all of the springs are correctly installed. Pull the e-brake and see if the shoe moved at all.. If it did move but is still not grabbing then you will need to adjust the shoes.
Just wanted to add my thanks to the others. Used to do a lot of my own work but cars got to complicated for me. Brakes are something I can still try to do. Pads are relatively simple but it’s been so long since I’ve done brakes shoes that It would have been a real challenge without this guide. Thanks again!
It definitely sounds like the drive pin is sheared. There is just enough pressure to drive the attachments on the engine. The AC compressor is adding enough resistance to make it start slipping. If your belt is tight you should have no slippage. But, if the belts are not tight enough the same circumstances would happen. I would check the belt tightness first them check the drive pin.
I am very much a novice mechanic… I opened the box to my brakes and paid no attention to how they were packaged. Are all four of these shoes able to be used interchangeably on the rear brakes? The reason I ask is when I reinstalled my driver side drum it made an awful grinding noise when I drove to test the brakes. I was wondering if I put two “larger brakes” On one side and the two smaller brakes on the other.
I am planning on replacing my brakes on my 1990 323 (Protege). The phillips head bolts are very tight and even a hand impact driver hasn’t loosened them. But I wonder why are they here there at all?
The lugs go through the drum, thus when you tighten the wheel on it automatically locks the drum on also. No other brake drum I’ve worked on had any bolts like this. Are they just there to frustrate us with extra work?
You rock! After watching your video, we bought the parts, and changed out the shoes and drums easy as pie!!! I dictated to my husband what he needed to do on the first one (because he hadn’t watched video) and the second one went super fast! Thank you!!