Rear drum brakes do only about 30% of the XJ's stopping, which is exactly why they get ignored until the parking brake won't hold or you hear metal-on-metal — this is how to service them properly and get the self-adjuster working again.
The XJ runs rear drums for its entire 1984–2001 run, most commonly 9" x 2.5" units on the Chrysler 8.25 and Dana 35 axles, with 10" drums on early Dana 44 trucks. They're not glamorous and they're fussier than the front discs — a drum brake is a fistful of little springs, a self-adjuster that seizes if you look at it wrong, and a parking-brake lever buried in the middle. None of it is beyond you. The trick is to work one side at a time, photograph everything before you pull it apart, and use the still-assembled side as your reference.
You'd do this job when the parking brake stops holding on a grade, when you hear a scrape or grind from the rear, when the pedal sits low because the self-adjusters have stopped taking up slack, or because nobody has been in there in 100,000 miles and the hardware has gone to rust. Shoes are condemned when the friction material is down to about 1/16" (1.5mm) or near the rivet heads. If you've got fluid weeping at the back of the drum, the wheel cylinder is leaking and gets replaced — brake fluid on the shoes ruins them, so plan to do both at once.
A few XJ-specific truths before you start. The factory return and hold-down springs lose tension after two decades of heat cycling, and weak springs are the number-one reason these self-adjusters quit working — buy the hardware kit and replace the springs whether they look bad or not, it's $18. Cheap aftermarket backing-plate sets (the Dorman 924-665 in particular) are known to fit poorly and prevent the cylinder or shoes from seating; if you're only doing shoes and hardware, leave the backing plate alone. And the drums themselves rust-weld to the axle flange on any XJ that's seen moisture — there's a documented way off, covered below, that doesn't involve beating on the axle.
This guide replaces shoes, hardware, and (if needed) wheel cylinders. Brake work is safety-critical: if you are not confident the rear brakes will hold afterward, have the work checked before you drive in traffic.
| Part | Vendor | Est. price |
|---|---|---|
| Centric Premium Rear Brake Shoe Set (9" x 2.5") | Rock Auto | ~$28 |
| ACDelco Professional Rear Brake Shoes | Rock Auto / Amazon | ~$32 |
| Carlson Rear Drum Brake Hardware Kit | Rock Auto / O'Reilly | ~$18 |
| Raybestos Wheel Cylinder (each, qty 2) | Rock Auto | ~$14 |
| Centric Rear Brake Drum (each, qty 2) | Rock Auto | ~$38 |
| Permatex Ceramic Extreme Brake Lubricant | AutoZone / O'Reilly | ~$7 |
Written and maintained by an AZ wheeler and driveway wrencher. Always cross-reference your factory service manual — modifications affect vehicle safety and warranty. Work at your own risk.