Parking Brake

I replaced my rear drums, shoes, springs and now my parking brake doesnt work at all.

Supposedly you can drive in reverse and hit the brake and it will auto adjust but that isnt working. There is a ton of slack in the handle. The brakes seem to all be working correctly except fot the hand brake. Any ideas?...

guessing that you must have reassembled wrong? can you post some pics of the top and bottom views of the drum assembly

You probably need to take the slack out of the cable. There is an adjuster nut (under the XJ) next to the drivers side frame rail. Grab a wrench and tighten the cable to remove slack.

If you have trouble finding the adjuster - follow the rear parking brake cables to the spot where they merge into one assembly.

That reverse driving brake adjust is pretty much useless.

Adjust the rear brakes through the slot in the backing plate.

Then adjust the parking brake cable.

<a href="http://s608.photobucket.com/albums/tt161/2001jeepxjns/?action=view&current=IMG_0957.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt161/2001jeepxjns/IMG_0957.jpg" border="0" alt="Rear Drum Brake"></a>

I would replace that leaking wheel cylinder, best do the other side too.

You should clean the adjuster, put a little anti-seize on the threads.

does it look like it is assembled correctly?

I am guessing I just need to adjust the cable...

Maybe a stupid question but dont want to screw it up.

How the heck do i adjust it. I see the bult and assume i just have to move the nut in a little. When you put a wrench to it the whole thing just turns. Lock some vice grips on it?

It looks OK to me. You probably just need to get the pads near the drum (use the adjuster slot on the inside of the backing plate) then use the adjuster nut I mentioned above to adjust the cable.

the adjuster is wrong on this one



the lever needs to make full contact with the sprocket on the adjuster

it looks like the adjuster arm is installed backwards

both sides need to expand when the sprocket is moved upwards. what is supposed to happen is that sudden stop will pull the arm up and it will dial the sprocket and expand the adjuster if it can

Your assembly looks fine.

Here is a photo array of a GM typical drum brake assembly.

I would, however, address the leaking wheel cylinder in your photos.

Good Luck.

I don't see any other immediate problems. one side has the brake shoe return spring on upside down but I don't think that's critical.

What you need to do is first get the levers fully engaged with the sprockets. On my junk I had to bend the spring that goes over the lever inwards more so that it would pull the arm tighter. It should make a ratcheting sound when you rotate it upwards (as viewed from the outside). When you do that the brake shoes will move apart. Get it so that the shoes are close to the drum and then put the drum back on, reach behind the back with a flathead screwdriver and keep dialing the adjuster by rotating it from the back until it has slight constant friction with the wheel turning.

Then tighten the parking brake.

The parking brake also pulls the shoes out a little so it is part of the whole assembly. EG when you are stopping at a light, engage the parking brake a little bit before you press the brake pedal, and see how much better the rear brakes feel. If the adjuster and parking brake are dialed in right, it should always feel like that, like all four wheels are stopping and there is constant engagement.

I agree with Joe also, the wheel cylinders should be replaced and you ought to bleed the lines.

Wow good eye. Dont think I would have caught that. So basically I am going to just flip the adjuster back around but it back together and hopefully it will work.

The only thing I dont get is that it should still work on the side the adjuster is installed correctly, unless...

the adjusters are side-specific. they should expand when they are rotated upwards (looking at it from outside). the lever has to be tightly engaged with the sprocket for the automatic adjuster to work properly.

they are $5 each at the parts store if you want to replace them

I had to adjust my rear brakes recently after inspecting and cleaning them I had no Ebrake. I lifted one wheel with the transmission in N and spun the wheel and made adjustments until I could feel slight drag from the shoes. After that I parked on my steep driveway with the Ebrake, it takes 8 clicks to hold it now perfectly. Took like 5 minutes with a brake spoon and the wheels left on.

When I first cleaned/inspected them I had both wheels off the ground and tried adjusting that way. I didn't want to have too much drag and just couldn't get the right feel with both wheels spinning. My Ebrake had no resistance and no effect after I thought I had them adjusted correctly.

I didn't touch the cable at all.

If your parking brake worked before you changed the shoes, you shouldn't need to adjust the cable any shorter. With new shoes, drums, and springs you have only decreased the amount of travel necessary to force the shoes against the drums-- it would be too tight if anything, now.

So I put the adjusters on backward on both sides. I switched them around and found that on the dside there was a little plate the goes behind the shoe that was most have popped off during reassembly. Put it all back together and it works perfectly now. Thanks for the help. Now that the brakes are done I can get started on the wiring for the hitch I installed earlier this week.

Bought the truck in Sept last year and so far: radiator, tires, brakes, plugs, CPS, dash lights, air cond, horn, remote start, stereo, rear door lifts, rear leafs, front & rear lights, trailer hitch. I wonder whats next...