First time i did it, i must have done it too much because I burned up the pads driving 10 miles later.

 

Exactly the reason why I have my concerns about this method, you have no way of knowing if you have over adjusted the brakes, and are doing damage to them.

 

You CAN'T over adjust them using this method. If there's no play between the shoe and drum, then they won't adjust anymore. You must have left your parking brake on by accident.

 

IMHO, you CAN over adjust them. If there's no play between the shoe and drum, then there is no room for the shoes to relax back off the drum when the pedal is released and they wear down.

 

If you manually crank the adjustment wheel w/ a brake spoon (or screwdriver) then you CAN over-adjust them. If you use this method, they CANNOT over-adjust because if they are within spec, this method will NOT continue to turn the adjustment wheel.

 

For brakes that are pretty out of whack, how far would you guess one would have to drive before they were back to reasonable? I've got a 300' driveway I could back down while pumping the ebrake handle. I'm just wondering if this is a 50' thing or a 1000' thing.

 

I keep mine maintained fairly well - I adjust them about every 3000 miles or so, It takes me maybe 30' or so of pumping the handle to get it nice and firm.

 

I tried this last night in the church parking lot next door as I was going to the grocery store. I didn't do it much, because I feared the cops were going to cruise by and ask what I was doing.

It did seem to make a little bit of a difference. I'll have to try it again before I can say for sure. Mine is not really in bad need of adjustment though.

 

If you are manually adjusting the drum brakes with a brake spoon, and doing it properly, you should have the wheel off the ground so you can spin the wheel while making the adjustment. As soon as you start to feel some drag, you are finished. Pretty hard to over adjust if you do it right.

Look, I don't want to get into a CAN/CAN'T thing here. You have the right to your opinion, and I to mine. I just want to make those who have not had experience with drum brakes aware of the possible problems, as I see it, with your method.

 

I don't think either way is right or wrong. I put brake shoes on my Camry a good while back and I actually adjusted them by going in reverse while yanking up and down on the e-brake handle. I recently put them on again and I didn't do that and used a brake spoon with the tire off the ground-it worked well too.

I guess it all depends on just how bad they are out of adjustment, but for firming them up and maintenance purposes, the reverse method may be the way to go.

 

Yea i will have to try this tonight, After I went off road and got stuck, the e brake can go all the way up, and the handle still feels loose. Hope I dont break anything, lol. Thanks for the advice!

 

hmmm I never heard of this....I myself am skeptical also....so I'll try it tomorrow and let you guys that havent tried it or are nervous about trying know how it works or if it works.....

 

hey it really works, awesome!!! Can feel huge difference when braking!

 

Okay, So before I did this the E brake could be pulled to 26 clicks. I followed all the given procedure and pumped my handle about 250 in 50 pump increments. After the first two 50 pump incriments I noticed no diference in pedal firmness or the number of click on the E brake. After the next 50 I thought the handle felt slightly tighter so I did it more. Now, when all is said and done I can pull my E brake handel to about 30 clicks and it sucks at holding at anything less than about 28 clicks.

It looks like I will be buying a brake spoon this weekend.

Thanks for the tip.

 

HOLY CRAP! 28 clicks? You're WAAAAAYYY out of spec then. You definitely need to "spoon" them back close. After that, you can use the other method to keep them adjusted.

 

What about cable tension? I think half my problem is that the cable is fairly new and has streched since I bought the truck. Has anyone tightened their cable?

 

28 clicks? I don't even think that is possible? I think maximum notchs allowed are like 12-15...I could be wrong, but that to me doesn't seem right.

I'm going to say this again, you DON"T need a brake tool to adjust the rear brakes, just simply remove the drum off the brake assembly and turn the star wheel. Every shoe clearance I did, I always took off the drum and did the whole spin the wheel and turn the star wheel adjuster (you can use a flathead screw driver if your must as a tool) till you feel a drag method. This will work for most vehicle but won't work for LSD equiped vehicles where really you want to use a sliding caliper to measure clearances and adjust that way.

 

Alldata specs: 8-13 clicks

 

All I know is that the thing definitely pulls out 28 clicks (If anyone would like some hard proof I can provide it).

Again. Has anyone tightened the cable?

 

I am having a problem understanding your method. I fail to see how removing the brake drum is an easier procedure to adjust the drum brakes. To use a brake spoon, or a screwdriver, all that is necessary is to jack up the vehicle so both rear wheels are off the ground. Then remove the rubber adjustment hole cover, insert the tool and use it to turn the 'star' wheel adjuster while spinning the wheel to guage when the shoes are starting to drag on the inside of the drum.

If I am understanding you correctly, one would have to remove the wheel and tire, remove the drum, and then make the adjustment by turning the 'star' wheel adjuster. But, how do you know when to stop turning the adjuster with the drum off. If you turn it too far, you will not be able to put the drum back on because the shoes will be too far out. And with most drums, there is usually a lip on the outer edge where the shoes don't ride that isn't worn as much as where the shoes do contact. Unless you cut this lip off, the brakes will be too loose if you can slip the drum with the lip over the shoes. I suppose, one could try to use a caliper to measure the inner diameter of the drum, and then adjust the shoes to match, but given the problem with the lip I mentioned, I don't see this working either.