Cadillac: 1989 Cad replacing leaking fluid cylinder, rear drum brakes, hand vacuum pump

Question
What steps should I follow when replacing a leaking caliper on rear drum brakes.  The cylinder is leaking...not the master cylin.  I assume I need to bleed the lines after replacing.....do 1989 cad lines need to be pressure bled ?

Answer
Well first off buy the new cylinder, usually around 20 bucks or so.  You MAY be able to get the cylinder out without removing the brake shoes but it depends on how the system works.  You could try compressing both sides of the cylinder and pull it out once you remove the rear side retaining clip and removing the brake line from the cylinder.  If you can do that without removing the shoes then you're in luck, otherwise you need to take everything apart, in which case make sure you remember where and how everything went.  

Once you put in the new cylinder attatch the retaining ring, and the brake line.  I've never heard of pressure bleeding but I'm sure there is such a thing.  
There is the hard way and the easy way.  The hard way requires two people.  One presses the brake pedal down slowly while the bleed screw is opened with a tube on it draning to a cup.  While the pedal is still moving down slowly, you must close the bleed screw and then let go of the brake and repeat the process, making sure there is always fluid in the master cylinder.

The way I do it is I have a hand vacuum pump hooked up to a brake bleeding cup, which I had to modify to make a seal on it because it would not hold enough vacuum to suck out the brake fluid. This way you open the bleed screw, and begin pumping the vacuum pump and it will suck the fluid into the cup, once the fluid comes out clear you can be sure that you've done that whole brake line.  As long as the master cylinder never ran out of fluid you should not have to bleed the other brakes.  Make sure to close the screw while the fluid is still flowing into the cup otherwise it might go back and get some air in the system.

That pretty much covers it all.  It's a pretty simple process, you just need to know how to do it.
Hope it helps.