... Attached to brake caliper?  

 

It seems to need three hands.  One to hold the end, the second to push back the spring and the third to wiggle the brake shoes up and around.

 

Sadly I have only two

Slacken off lots at the adjustment in cabin, everything gets easier.

Well blow me down with a feather.  I've been so focused on the wheel end I forgot there was another!  

 

I was also contemplating a hose clamp tool or maybe cutting some slots in washers and using mole grips to compress them. 

 

Thanks!

Strange, I've never ever had any problems getting the handbrake cable end "block" over the calliper handbrake lever, so always used a suitable screwdriver to ease it over the lever - which will start moving the lever in the right direction - and I keep the handbrake in good adjustment, ie making sure that there is the required clearance between the lever and the stop when the handbrake is "off".

 

I'm writing this in the hope that it stops you needing to mess about with the cable adjustment, for no other reason.

 

Or, did you write "brake calliper" in error if your car has rear drum brakes?

Drum.

Personally, I:

 

Build the shoes up in the vice, biggest spring down to the smallest spring.

Yank the handbrake cable out of the spring it's in with a pair of pliers,push the spring back and hold it with an old blunt set of side cutters. 

Hook the cable on the arm

Hang the shoes on the back plate (you might need to take the bottom spring off to get it over the hub.

 

Brake spring hooks are amazing tools and dirt cheap. 

 

Thanks all

 

I've got the handbrake cable safely back on.   Simple once I'd removed the other end from the adjustment yoke.  I know I will have a fight with that later...

 

My next challenge is the retainer springs.   Been on one of those for two hours and have tried simple force to using zip ties to pre-compress the springs.  I don't seem to be able to grow the third arm that's needed for this either!  

 

I can compress the spring all the way in and thread the pin ok. But I've then got no way of turning the pin.  

 

Off to YouTube for inspiration but also hoping they'll be anecdotes and hints here 

 

Your friend is a tool. I think!mi got mine from either Eurocar parts or car parts 4 less.

I can't find it, but its a screwdriver like tool, that you apply to clip on shoes ,whilst holding rear of pin.

The end holds the disc and rotates it

Try a search for brake spring washer tool. 

I find it easier to deal with cable attachmeñt after shoes are off and before fitting.

Don't forget that its easier to replace both cables and allow for constant adjustment ever after.

I just push the pin hard with my finger and put the clip on with a pair of combination pliers. If you can't push down hard enough, put a 5p in the finger of a pair or gardening gloves and push with that. 

That's a good idea, ie using a pair of gloves with something hard inside them, when I had or had reason to work on rear drum brakes, I tended to find that I was mainly working on them in winter, so after pressing down hard on the first retainer ring and rotating it with a bare finger, that finger was numb!

I did have more success with a pair of pliers but even using that sensible method quite often ended up with nipping fingers when pliers slipped or everything going well but limited access meant that if the pin ended up rotating slightly, I'd run out of "rotating space"! 

I never ever failed to quickly get these retainers back on, but usually a bit of unnecessary physical pain was included, so I bought one of the tools designed for doing that job - then suddenly there were no cars in our family that had rear drum brakes to use that tool on!

 

This is the sort of tool that was being referred to earlier by @VWD     Sealey VS036 Drum Brake Shoe SPRING WASHER TOOL - Remove Install - Large & Small | eBay   plenty other cheaper ones, I even bought a "hook" for refitting the big springs and so avoid using "wire and pliers".

I ended up using a pair of normal pliers.  Despite having loads of tools for plumbing and leccy work in the UK I could not find a pair of pliers on the first day I was doing this work.  I was using needle nose and could not get enough force without causing too much pain in the fingers and palm...   Off to screwfix and the job was done in a few minutes.  

but then, when I came to replace the rear shoes a few days later, there was one spring that was just a b***er.  not sure whether the teeth on the pliers had gone, I was knackered or whatever.  But it kept slipping off and I ended up losing the nice shiny cap in to the ninth dimension as it sprung back, missed my bulk and zoomed off in to some brambles.  Thankfully I still had the old caps from before I replaced the springs.  

If I do this job again I will definitely buy a spring puller and a the spring washer tool.  

I found that large pliers worked after a fashion usually, but not on furby. Got one of these and my son had no problems getting them on first time. 

One side (passenger ) is no prob, but driver side is worse than the old 70s minis. 

One poster suggests removing the hub..

Springs, I use long nose or large electrical pliers. Often with a bit of 1.5/2.5 mm earth wire.

One other tip . After replacing shoes and adjusting cable to "nip" on at first notch ,I sit car on stands and then check both sides. I then stick wheeled back on both sides and check torque (/using my cheapo torque wrench to see at what torque the wheel will move(/if at all). Check for same both sides. This saves red face with !OT man.

Sometimes the adjuster fails to drop properly and rears are out of adjust