'08 Mark 2 1.6. 

Hi, just had a look at my rear brakes in preparation for a brake service in near future. I have a new hardware kit but I'm puzzled by the pins that locate the shoes.

It doesn't seem possible to remove them without first removing the wheel hub? They aren't too bad so if necessary I will leave the old one in place.

What am I missing?

Heading out so if you answer I'm not ignoring you, will look in later, many thanks

I think that is how they are on the Mk2 Focus.

21 minutes ago, Cofty said:

I have a new hardware kit but I'm puzzled by the pins that locate the shoes.

It doesn't seem possible to remove them without first removing the wheel hub? They aren't too bad so if necessary I will leave the old one in place.

I suspect that I'm not fully understanding what the problem is. If we are talking about rear drum brakes then the full drum just pulls off once the wheel is removed (on some models there is one cross-head screw that needs to be removed).

The brake shoes are held against the back plate by a long thin pin which is held in place by a spring pushing against a cup washer. To remove the cup washer is pressed against the spring and rotated 90 degrees.

I'm not sure what you are referring to when you say about removing the Hub, in order to get the pins out.

1 minute ago, unofix said:

The brake shoes are held against the back plate by a long thin pin which is held in place by a spring pushing against a cup washer.

I think the Pins are what he is asking about. They do look like they could do with replacement after a while and from memory you can't just pull them out from the back.

Thanks John, I just couldn't get my head around what the issue was. I understand now, that the OP would like to replace the pins but they can't be fully withdrawn from the back plate. To be honest in all the many brake shoe replacements I've done over the years I've never even tried to replace the pins !!!

Yes sorry it's the thin pins that locate the shoes against the backing plate. Once the spring clips are off the pins should drop out to the back but they are blocked by the hub/bearing.

Seems like an odd design. I can leave the old ones in place. I wonder how many people have replaced wheel hubs only to discover they forgot to put the brake shoe pins back in first.