Wanna Know What Are The Components Of A Drum Brake System? Here Are All The Details

As we all know, the Brakes are a very important part of an automobile. The brakes and all the other components of the braking system of our vehicles should be absolutely perfect. You guys might already be knowing that there are mainly two types of brakes - Disc Brake and Drum Brake. In case you want to know what are the exact differences between a Disc Brake and a Drum Unit, you can click HERE. This is a proven fact that the Disc Brakes are superior to the Drum units. Nowadays, most of the vehicles, be it a car, motorcycle or a scooter get disc brakes as standard. However, there are still some affordable mobility solutions which get drum brakes. So, today we will be telling you what are the components of a drum brake system.

Now, compared to the new-age disc brakes which are now accepted more widely across all the cars and other mobility solutions, the old drum brakes have relatively lesser components and lesser complex mechanism as well. The automobile world has widely accepted the new-age disc brakes in the braking system of cars more in comparison to the drum brakes. Disc brakes have more complex mechanisms and they involve more components when compared to the drum brakes. In case you wanna know what are the exact components of a Disc Brake System, you can click HERE. The drum brakes are relatively more affordable as compared to the disc brakes. 

The drum brakes are relatively lesser complex as compared to disc brakes, thanks to the use of lesser and easier components in comparison. Also, the maintenance of drum brakes, due to lesser components, is lesser than that of the disc brakes. While some of the motorcycles, scooters and cars now get disc brake as standard on all the wheels, there are some basic two-wheelers which get disc brake on the front only and some don't get them at all. When we talk about four-wheelers, here also the story is the same as most of the affordable cars still get drum brakes on their rear wheels. Now, coming to the main point, what are the components of a drum brake system? So, there are several components in the drum brake system, which are inter-related to each other for the efficient process of brake functioning. These braking components are as follows:

Brake Shoes - These are the most important components in a drum brake mechanism, which act as the heart of the whole system. These are parts made of metal which are placed within the drum and have a lining of a soft compound on them. On the application of brakes, these drums with the lining are pushed against the inner surface of the drum, thereby producing friction causing the wheel to slow down. The brake shoes are placed as close to the surface of the drum as possible, but not in contact.

Brake Cylinder - Placed above the wheel, the brake cylinder acts as the most important component of the hydraulic mechanism here. It contains the brake fluid, and on the application of brakes, the pressure is created on the brake fluid, which is then translated to the pistons present inside it.

Brake Pistons - These are the components which act as a link between the brake shoes and the brake cable. Placed inside the brake cylinder, they help in pushing the brake shoes linked to them against the surface of the drum and contracting them back in their original position on releasing of the brake pedal.

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Automatic Adjuster - After excessive application of brakes over a period of time, the brake shoes tend to move away from the inner surface of the drum. This results in more amount of brake force for braking to happen. The automatic adjuster tries to prevent this thing. Connected to the brake drums, the automatic adjuster has threads on it, which unscrews a bit when there is enough gap produced between the brake shoe and drum's surface. This mechanism results in a decrease in the gap, bringing the shoe closer to the surface and making it work for some more time.

Emergency Brake - Commonly known as a parking brake or a hand-brake, the emergency brake consists of a lever and a cable. On the application of this emergency brake, the lever tends to move the brake shoes against the surface of the drum, thus locking them up as well as the wheels.

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So, now you know what are the components of a drum brake system! The new-age Disc Brakes are definitely more superior than the old drum units. Which braking system is used in your motorcycle, scooter and car and which one you prefer? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions with us in the comments section below. You can also join our 91Wheels Auto Enthusiast Telegram group (click via mobile to join) curated exclusively for the fans, enthusiasts and the owners. Further, subscribe to our YouTube channel for more such amazing motoring updates.

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