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Help with rear brakes adjuster needed.

Kad

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Portugal
Hello guys... once again i have another problem with my 88 xj.

I have new brakes on the front, new "shoes" on the back drums also, now, the problem is that the rear brakes really brake! i mean, it locks the rear wheels very easyly. I have tried to adjust the rear brakes using the adjuster, but if i "loose" the brakes i loose the handbrake, and if i tight it, it just brakes too much...

i've purged the system recently, new brakes oil...

any tips would be appreciated.
 
They are supposed to be self adjusters. You adjust the rears Until they are just barely touching. then back up and brake a few times and they adjust themselves.
You have to make sure the threads on the adjusters are clean and oiled, the star adjusters turn easy and the adjuster cam and cable is installed correctly.
You don't adjust the parking brake with the shoe adjusters, it has it's own adjustment. The parking brake adjustment is actually fairly loose, 4-5 clicks or so on the handle is what I usually end up with. And to get the parking brake set good, it takes more than that.
If you have to adjust the rears yourself, the best method I've found is to adjust them tight (to make sure htey seat straight) then back off until the shoes don't touch at all. Then adjust them in until the shoes just touch and then back off a few clicks. The star wheel for the self adjusters is easy to mess up with a brake adjusting tool or a screw driver.
Sometimes new shoes crown in old drums and don't fit just right. It may take awhile for them to wear in and make full contact. That is unless you have the drums measured and the shoes arched to the drum.
If you get any brake fluid on the shoes they tend to grab.
 
Interesting comment,

"That is unless you have the drums measured and the shoes arched to the drum."

over here they turn the steel drum on a brake lathe to get it entirely flat from inside to outside and never mess with the pads.

I like to use nickel antiseize on the threads.
 
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