Adjusting rear drum brakes?

I installed new rear brake shoes a couple weeks ago, and left them a little loose. I thought the automatic adjusters would tighten them up, but so far they haven't. (The pedal is lower than it should be.) How tight should I adjust the shoes?
Thanks.
Don

I always grease the threads on the adjuster (star wheel), they have a tendancy to rust and stick. I also adjust the star wheel by hand, so the shoes are tight enough, to just contact the drum, takes a little trial and error. Slip the drum on about and inch or so and try and center the shoes as near as possible. Seat the drum and intially adjust them by sound, you can hear the shoes just slightly rubbing the drum, when turning the drum by hand. With the drum fully seated on the wheel studs (bang the drum left and right a couple of times with the heal of your hand), give it a turn. Should turn (fairly easy), but make a slight rubbing noise.
If the adjusters are way too loose and the shoes don´t grab the drum (with the brakes applied), the adjusters won´t work. The adjusters only adjust in reverse. Back up, hit the brakes, back up hit, the brakes (moderatly hard). If they still won´t adjust, apply a little parking brake, for the first few back and stop cycles.
If they still don´t adjust, the star wheels are frozen or something is hooked up wrong.
If the pedal gets, better after couple of pumps. It´s usually air in the brake cylinders (or lines). I always carefully, unseat the dust cover on the rear brake cylinders (holding a rag underneath). They will often seep a little brake fluid, a sign it´s time for reconditioning the cylinders or replacement.

I just redid my brakes last Wednesday. The way I adjusted the rears was to jack up the axle (both sides), adjust the star until the wheel wouldn’t turn by hand, then back it off 3 clicks. The wheels will turn by hand with some slight resistance and you can hear the shoes just barely dragging. They wore in nicely. Worked like a champ on mine and was much easier than replacing the rubber flex lines with braided stainless steel ones. You haven’t lived till you have cut and reflared brake lines :looser:

Runnin'OnEmpty said:

I installed new rear brake shoes a couple weeks ago, and left them a little loose. I thought the automatic adjusters would tighten them up, but so far they haven't. (The pedal is lower than it should be.) How tight should I adjust the shoes?
Thanks.
Don

Click to expand...

You DID replace ALL the hardware...right?? Springs, adjuster, parking brake cable ALL should be replaced.

Rev

Ha ha, Rev, I didn't have any parts left over if that's what you mean. Actually the XJ has low mileage, so everything looked good. The shoes didn't have that much wear, but since I'd already replaced the front pads, I thought I'd go ahead with the rear shoes too.

The weather's going to be warmer this week, so I'll have a chance to tighten them up some. Thanks for everyone's suggestions, I appreciate it.
Don

Just thought I'd post the results: I jacked up the rear wheels and turned the star wheels in until the brake shoes started dragging. I left them with a very slight resistance; less than what disc brakes usually have. It took a total of about 2 turns on both sides. This brought the pedal back up to where it should be, and feels much better. The parking brake is also a lot tighter now.

It's amazing how a slight adjustment can make such a big difference in how the brakes feel. Thanks again for everyone's posts.
Don

Runnin'OnEmpty said:

Actually the XJ has low mileage, so everything looked good.

Click to expand...

Glad you got it fixed...but....EVERYTIME you do brakes you NEED to replace the hardware. I'll tell you what will happen, you will do brakes and say "the hardware looks good...I'll get it next time" then "next time" you'll forget or "next time" will be beyond the normal life of the springs. One night about 5:30PM you will be driving through town in Cadillac, MI after a Jamboree, go to hit the brakes and hear...BOOM, and your pedal will go to the floor, your buddy will be on the CB like "hey!! you just smoked something in the rearend, I say a BIG cloud of smoke come out" and you will end up doing brakes in a Motel 6 parking lot at 10AM Sunday morning because the spring you did not replace when you last did brakes...snapped.

JMHO


Rev

Rev Den said:

Glad you got it fixed...but....EVERYTIME you do brakes you NEED to replace the hardware. I'll tell you what will happen, you will do brakes and say "the hardware looks good...I'll get it next time" then "next time" you'll forget or "next time" will be beyond the normal life of the springs. One night about 5:30PM you will be driving through town in Cadillac, MI after a Jamboree, go to hit the brakes and hear...BOOM, and your pedal will go to the floor, your buddy will be on the CB like "hey!! you just smoked something in the rearend, I say a BIG cloud of smoke come out" and you will end up doing brakes in a Motel 6 parking lot at 10AM Sunday morning because the spring you did not replace when you last did brakes...snapped.

JMHO


Rev

Click to expand...

Just hypothetically speaking, right?

Even if you follow Rev. Den's sage advice (brake hardware is cheap anyway) it's still a good idea to hand-adjust the brakes, at least when you put them together. I've never gotten the adjusters on my 95 to work consistently, and have gotten used to hand adjusting them occasionally.

The step everyone forgot is to back off on the parking brake cable adjuster vefore adjusting the brake shoes with the star wheel. If the brakes were badly worn and someone (anyone) adjusted up the parking brake w/o first adjusting the shoes, the tension on the parking brake could affect your settings.

The parking brake cables should be loose when the shoes are adjusted. After the shoes are properly adjusted is the time to adjust the parking brake cable.

Which brings up another question........just how tight should the parking brake be adjusted? After installing new shoes and doing the adjustment, my parking brake travel is only a few inches. Yet there's no brake drag when it's let off. Does this sound about right?

The dealers actually use (or are supposed to, according to the FSM) a tension gauge. I just figure if the parking brake holds before the lever tops out on travel it's good. Probably about 5 clicks to a hold on a modest downgrade (going forward) is about right.

I’ve been adjusting my parking brake by turning the 13 mm turnbuckle style nut under the car. But the parking brake starts to back off after a month or so. What’s the correct way to adjust the parking brake so it holds?
Thanks.

Dang man. You revived an almost 17 year old thread.

The parking brake is adjusted during normal operation by the star wheel at the bottom of the drum. As the shoes and drums wear, the distance the parking brake cable must be pulled increases. If it goes past a certain point, it ratchets to the next pawl and adjusts the star wheel adjuster.

Sometimes they freeze up, and frankly I think they're just junk in general. You shouldn't ever have to adjust them, but if you do, it's fairly simple. Jack and support the vehicle with the rear wheels off the ground. On the inside, lower portion of the backing plate is an oval shaped rubber plug. Pull that plug out and insert a long flat screwdriver. You'll feel a toothed wheel about 1/4" in. Pry on it to turn it, and you'll hear some clicking. Spin the wheel at the same time and continue to ratchet the star wheel until you just barely (and I mean BARELY) feel drag on the wheel. Reinstall the rubber plug and go to the other side.

Thanks Agreen! Wow didn’t realize this thread was almost as old as my Jeep.