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glazing brakes?

paroxysym

NAXJA Forum User
Location
baltimore, md.
so i had my front pads replaced saturday. the dumbasses decided to readjust the rear brakes and tightened my ebrake soo much it would click once and set- i know the fsm says at least 5 clicks. so i adjusted it myself and i noticed that the rear passenger side i can smell the brakes after driving for a bit. i did the whole baking up a bit and stopping to adjust my brakes. yesterday it was bad, today it after driving to work it doesnt smell as strong. could it be them just re-setting themself or did i mess the pads up you think? i tried pulling the drum after i first smelled it and i couldnt slid it off. i just had the rear shoes replaced back in dec..
 
If they set your rear shoes too tight, backing up and hitting the brakes will not back them off. This will only tighten them. Use the hole in the backing plate to manually back the adjuster off. With the wheel off the ground, spin the wheel, you should feel a slight drag. If its more than that, their too tight. Also check to make sure the parking brake cables arent sticking
 
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Your best bet is to just pull each rear wheel, and then tighten the adjuster the whole way down (will pull in shoes for least amount of contact). Put them back on, then try the backing up deal.

I went through a crapload of issues a couple years ago after I redid my rear brakes. I'm still meaning to just disable my ebrake when i get a chance. I was getting rear wheel lock ups and all kinds of crap. And there is NO adjusting my ebrake because the adjustment screw/bracket is so rusted that it would just disintegrate if I were to start messing with it.\

EDIT: sorry! to answer your question... the "star" adjuster controls how far apart or close together the shoes are. you can adjust it witha screwdriver (or specific tool) through the backside of the wheel
 
how does the adjuster inside the drum work? i saw it has "teeth" on it and i guess you take a flathead screwdriver to it? but when you push the adjust down isnt that tightening the brakes not loosening them? it seemed when i did that it made taking the drum off even harder.
 
you need to open a haynes/chiltons, FSM, or do a google search.

adjust drum brakes is not hard, but your right, you need an illustration. you also need to understand how they work to be able to adjust them.

better yet, find someone you know that has done drum brake before and have them help you. drums arnt hard to work on, but you need to know how they work and what the parts do.

some just switch to drum brakes because they are easier to work on.
 
The best way to figure out how to adjust them through the slot is to pull the drum off and practice. It's kind of hard to figure it out through that little slot. One way tightens them and the other way loosens them. They tighten easy, but to loosen them, you have to either lift the lever with another screwdriver (best) or just force it (my usual way). If you turn it one way, and the wheels get harder to turn, you need to back off the other way until they get easy again.
 
Yeah right! :doh:

actually i said that backwards, sorry

some switch to disc brakes because they are easier to work on and need less maintenance.

drums brakes work very well when maintained proporly. the problem is usually lack of maintenance.
 
But on the other hand, if your not a good enough (sorry, I meant experienced enough - PC correction) mechanic to get traditional drum brakes working correctly, you do not want to make a customizing major change to your most critical vehicle system. Get your stock stuff working right first.
 
But on the other hand, if your not a good enough (sorry, I meant experienced enough - PC correction) mechanic to get traditional drum brakes working correctly, you do not want to make a customizing major change to your most critical vehicle system. Get your stock stuff working right first.

agreed
 
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