A drum maintenance system for use in an imaging device includes a reservoir having a supply of release agent, and an applicator configured to receive release agent from the reservoir and to apply the release agent to an intermediate imaging surface of an imaging device moving in a process direction. A metering blade is positioned to meter the release agent on the intermediate imaging surface applied by the applicator. The metering blade has a longitudinal axis extending in a cross-process direction transverse to the process direction. A driver is operably coupled to the metering blade that is configured to translate the metering blade between a first position and a second position along the longitudinal axis.