[atwinda]

Ok, so I installed new brake shoes and they are running extemely hot- like smell bad, if you spray water towards them they steam bad. So I would assume they are adjusted incorrectly. Now, I thought they are auto ajusting via the e brake, so how do I back these things off a bit? the bolt on the outside of the ebrake lever? Thanks.

 

[BigBadBob0]

The rear brakes only adjust to get tighter. And even then I've found that it does absolutely nothing useful. To adjust the brakes you should check your Haynes manual, or similar. But basically the idea is to jack a tire off of the ground. Pull the little rubber plug from the drum back and look inside, there is a little sprocket/gear. Turning that adjusts things. Adjust the gear until the shoes -barely- drag on the drum. Then back off one notch. Repeat for the other side. But you might want to check the manual before you listen to me. I've been known to make things up before.

 

[96tacolx]

The rear brakes only adjust to get tighter. And even then I've found that it does absolutely nothing useful. To adjust the brakes you should check your Haynes manual, or similar. But basically the idea is to jack a tire off of the ground. Pull the little rubber plug from the drum back and look inside, there is a little sprocket/gear. Turning that adjusts things. Adjust the gear until the shoes -barely- drag on the drum. Then back off one notch. Repeat for the other side. But you might want to check the manual before you listen to me. I've been known to make things up before.

You`re pretty much right. From personal experience (I`ve done way to many brake jobs to remember) I usually adjust the brakes till they barely drag on the drum and leave it at that. Climb inside and hit the brake pedal a couple of times so that the shoes are centered and check adjustment again.

If you get them too tight as in Atwinda`s case it`s a little harder to back off because of the adjuster arm keeps the sprocket from backing off. If you can`t get the drum off you have to find a long, skinny screwdriver and find that lever and push it away from the sprocket and at the same time get another screwdriver in there to back off on the adjuster.
You need 3 hands to do this. One for each screwdriver and another to hold the flashlight. (unless you are good at finding/working things you can`t see)

 

[atwinda]

that's the boot for the e brake lever? on the back side of the backing plate?

 

[akshunj]

yeah where the little lever arm goes into the backing plate.

 

[wickedx]

My Haynes Manual says that I need to lift the rear wheels off the ground, pull that plug off the top of the drum, then use TWO screwdrivers to pull the adjuster & spring away from each other while spinning the wheel counter-clockwise (while standing at the rear of the truck looking forward) to adjust the rear drums. Needless to say, this didn't help my e-brake problem. The lever on the back side of the drum w/ the rubber boot mentioned in a previous post, is stuck all the way out. So when I pull the e-brake, nothing happens because of all the slack that is already there. What am I doing wrong? How do I adjust the rear shoes ? Should I pull the tire and drum and see if something needs to be cleaned/lubed ?

 

[grumpy]

My Haynes Manual says that I need to lift the rear wheels off the ground, pull that plug off the top of the drum, then use TWO screwdrivers to pull the adjuster & spring away from each other while spinning the wheel counter-clockwise (while standing at the rear of the truck looking forward) to adjust the rear drums. Needless to say, this didn't help my e-brake problem. The lever on the back side of the drum w/ the rubber boot mentioned in a previous post, is stuck all the way out. So when I pull the e-brake, nothing happens because of all the slack that is already there. What am I doing wrong? How do I adjust the rear shoes ? Should I pull the tire and drum and see if something needs to be cleaned/lubed ?

are you saying that there is to much slack in the ebrake cable??? if so, under ~ drivers door there is an arm that has the slack adj for the cable.

 

[wickedx]

there only is slack because that lever with the rubber boot on the backside of the drum is stuck all teh way out ... I thought maybe adjusting the drums would draw it back in, which in turn would tighten up the ebrake ... I tried the "slack adj" on the cable and all that did was pull out that lever even more .. see what I'm saying ?

 

[grumpy]

I think that arm might get bolted to the inside of the drum. I'd take it apart and look at it to make sure everything is connected correctly.

 

[shawnD2]

there only is slack because that lever with the rubber boot on the backside of the drum is stuck all teh way out ... I thought maybe adjusting the drums would draw it back in, which in turn would tighten up the ebrake ... I tried the "slack adj" on the cable and all that did was pull out that lever even more .. see what I'm saying ?

You should check to make sure the lever isn't seized. Over the years I've taken mine apart 2 or 3 times to unseize it, and I don't drive through much water etc.

Shawn

 

[phixer]

You should check to make sure the lever isn't seized. Over the years I've taken mine apart 2 or 3 times to unseize it, and I don't drive through much water etc.

Shawn

I'm betting that Shawn's right, I had the same problem and it was the eBrake levers going into the backing plate that were seized. Check it out before you put to many miles cause it'll waste the drums.

Ken