• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Where does this piece go on the rear brake setup on my 99 XJ?

luketrash

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Ames, Iowa
brake-adjusting-cable-3461662.jpg




I took my rear drums off last night to inspect a noise I heard when rolling slowly next to a building. It turns out these adjuster cables and springs were snapped and mangled, sitting loose in the bottom of each drum.

Replacements are available, but I have no idea where they go, or how they work.

Are they even necessary? I'm running without them right now. I pulled the screw adjusters out of the bottom, disassembled, greased, and anti-seized them so that they are easy to adjust. My brakes are actually working well right now thanks to adjusting them properly upon reassembly.

But I'm curious about the goofy spring loaded cable thing pictured above.

American brake shoes and their springs look like Rube Goldberg devices to me. I'm used to motorcycles and British sports cars where there's two springs and that's it.
 
The eye hooks on the anchor pin (under the springs) and the cable goes around the little curved part on one of the shoes, and the hook on the bottom hooks on the tab that turns the star wheel on the adjuster.

If you don't put them on, your shoes will not automatically adjust to the correct distance from the drums as they wear.

They are often not replaced when a brake job is done because they are not included in the hardware kit. I usually replace them, because they're cheap and easy to do when you're in there.
 
Last edited:
Ahh.. I'm not going to worry about them. I get what they do now, little ratchet actions to keep the shoes tight to the drum.

I can get back there with a flathead screwdriver to tighten them whenever they start to feel loose.

I imagine the setup keeps the star wheel from turning the wrong way and the brakes loosening up though.

One of my star wheel adjusters was completely frozen and was way out of adjustment. I had to soak it in PB blaster, use a torch and a vice to get both ends of it to start turning again. But that has all been cleaned and rejuvenated.

I'll just skip that auto adjusters because it's not worth taking apart the springs on the shoes, which are completely fine in terms of friction material life.

Thanks!
 
I would not worry much about the star wheel loosening by itself. It's not so easy to turn that it will do so spontaneously, especially after it's had a few months to rust in. I've never had that problem when adjuster cables broke or malfunctioned.

Just make sure you keep on top of the adjustments, because badly adjusted brakes are more likely to grab.
 
if you've already looked enough to find the problem then put them on

bottom middle is a pin where the two shoes meet, the washer end of the cables go on that pin. Then clip the long spring part over the star wheel adjuster, and finally loop the cable into the groove on the ear-shaped shoulder pieces. Wow took longer to type that than to do it
 
I would put them back on. You either do it once and you're done and always have correct brake adjustment or you repeatedly screw with the star wheel for the life of your shoes.

To correctly put the eye on the anchor pin you only need to pop the top hook of each spring off, put the cable on, then pop the springs back over. You will not need to pull the shoes off or mess with anything else.
 
Back
Top