Researching now, but anyone know if these are self adjusting (they appear to be)? I've been doing the reverse and hit the brakes thing, but the park brake is not getting any tighter. I gave it my best guess when installing the new shoes, but it appears i left a little too much room. Do I have to keep taking the drums off and adjusting the the threaded "star" wheel manually? Access to the star adjuster through the slot at the back of the drum is near impossible.

 

Get them as close to tight as possible while still being able to fit the drum on, then a couple of clicks through that slot should do it. That's how I did mine.

 

Thanks, j. I was afraid they would be too tight. Instead they are not tight enough. Will bite the bullet and pull the drums off again. At least they will come off more easily this time.

 

Check your parking brake cable, Mine wasn't grabbing, noticed the cable had popped off on one side.

 

The service manual says after installation, back off adjuster untill there is no drag. Then adjust by going forward and coming to a complete stop. May take 10 stops (+ or -). You may need to replace the parking brake cable tensioner. I've never seen one that works because by the time you need to adjust the cables, it's been years and the darn things are rusted solid.

 

Good to know. Thanks. I've not heard of any vehicle that goes forward to adjust the brake. I'll find the tensioner and take a look.

 

Yes, but it's also an odd brakeshoe setup. And the tensioner is located on driver side approx under front seat.

 

I'm glad I found this! I just got new brakes all around and I went to park on a hill the other day and put my parking brake on and I still felt the car roll. So I tried it later on in my driveway. I idled forward and used my parking brake to stop and ND the car slowly rolls to a stop where I'm pretty sure it should stop better than that. Would this be a rear brake issue or a parking brake cable issue?

 

I have not been able to get my brakes properly adjusted since I replaced the parking brake lever/adjuster on the driver's side. It snapped on day.


Since I had to take the brakes apart, I put new shoes in, with a new hardware kit. Lubed the adjusters, got them as tight as possible and got them pounded on (there is a slight ridge on the edge of the drum). I had good brakes and parking brake until I stopped a few times, then they slacked off.


Blew a slave cylinder (driver's side) and replaced that, only I reassembled with one of the springs routed a little differently as I thought that it was pulling the adjusting lever off the star wheel. Again, I had brakes and parking brake for a short while.


Spring will bring another attempt.