rear drum off, accidentally pressed brakes, drum won't go back on

[paradigm]

The adjuster just isn't lining up properly with the metal bracket. The metal bracket thats supposed to sit on the teeth of the adjuster keeps sliding off (see the area circled below). This tells me that something isn't back together.

I pumped the brake like 40 times, and no bubbles are coming out of the left rear wheel where the over extended situation occurred. Is the left rear and right front tied together on it's own hydraulic circuit and the left front and right rear tied together on a separate hydraulic system? I ask because the brake fluid reservoir was only going down in the front portion and the rear portion stayed un touch and old. Also when I brake the car pulls to the left now, which tells me the left front brake is the strongest.

ome air could have entered the system when the wheel cylinder was over extended. Bleeding the rear brakes my be necessary.

I do know this, you will know a lot more about drum brakes when this is all over. 😉

Oh yeah I am definitely learning - after spending near 12 hours behind this its getting very frustrating however.

How's your adjustment on the other side? As mentioned one corner being insufficiently adjusted will cause excessive pedal travel. Case in point my plow truck, brakes sucked from day 1 when I bought it. I swapped out the emergency brake cables for not seized ones and adjusted the right rear and now the pedal is right up to the top. Most drums aren't perfectly true, so you should hear the shoes kissing the drums at some point. If they're not you need to put more clicks on that adjuster. If you go to far it's not that big a deal to turn them back.

I adjusted the LR wheel to basically match the RR wheel. There is like 4 or so exposed threads on the RR wheel.

 

[Supercharged111]

The adjuster just isn't lining up properly with the metal bracket. The metal bracket thats supposed to sit on the teeth of the adjuster keeps sliding off (see the area circled below). This tells me that something isn't back together.

I pumped the brake like 40 times, and no bubbles are coming out of the left rear wheel where the over extended situation occurred. Is the left rear and right front tied together on it's own hydraulic circuit and the left front and right rear tied together on a separate hydraulic system? I ask because the brake fluid reservoir was only going down in the front portion and the rear portion stayed un touch and old. Also when I brake the car pulls to the left now, which tells me the left front brake is the strongest.

View attachment 250485

Oh yeah I am definitely learning - after spending near 12 hours behind this its getting very frustrating however.



I adjusted the LR wheel to basically match the RR wheel. There is like 4 or so exposed threads on the RR wheel.

You have to go by feel. If you only have 4 threads showing chances are your adjustment is way too loose.

 

[paradigm]

You have to go by feel. If you only have 4 threads showing chances are your adjustment is way too loose.

When I extended it beyond that the drum was tight to go back on. Should it feel tight, or just a little snug when slipping it back over the shoes?

 

[ELCAM]

The safety feature in this system is front and rear isolated, the right and left safety feature would require 2 rear brake lines which G bodies do not have.

The front shallow reservoir is the rear brakes and the deep back reservoir is the front brakes.

When you get air in the system it wants to go up higher in the system so the air would likely not come out of the wheel cylinder bleeder. You will need to bleed at the proportioning valve or the master cylinder to get the air out. If the warning light is on you will need to center the valve in the proportioning valve to get the system to work again.

Theoretically the front will not need to be bled but you might need to relieve the pressure on the front to get the proportioning valve to center again.

 

[Supercharged111]

When I extended it beyond that the drum was tight to go back on. Should it feel tight, or just a little snug when slipping it back over the shoes?

That depends on how big of a wear ridge the drum has. When fully installed the shoes should be kissing the drums at some point throughout their rotation. It shouldn't been too faint of a kiss either.

 

[86 Salon]

You need to adjust the brakes with the drum on if there is a ridge on the outside of the drum or you can file or grind the ridge off or have the drum machined. I don't understand what you mean that the bracket (that is the actuator lever) doesn't line up with the adjuster. It looks fine in your picture. Is the actuator lever still attached to the parking brake lever? Look at where they connect to each other. If they aren't attached to each other, pop the spring out that holds the adjuster lever up against the adjuster, connect the levers together and pop the spring back in.

 

[78Delta88]

You're basically doing all the right things, you're just doing it the hard way.

Once the Pistons come out on the wheel cylinder the first thing you have to do is push those back in and the only proper way to do that is to crack the bleeder screw. Once you have those pushed in close the screw. Until those reset, nothing else will reset. Noticed the one lever that is red holding the lever for the ratchet? If that falls off, then your star adjuster will not work.

Once everything is reset, adjust the star adjuster until the drum just drags over the shoes. Put the rim and tire back on and button it up. Go find a large empty parking lot and driving in reverse, with a little bit of speed, stab the brakes. Do that repeatedly probably about 10 times.

That will automatically adjust your shoes to where they need to be. It is impossible to over adjust, because that is the purpose of the ratchet lever that will not allow the star adjuster to over adjust.

After you do that and if you have a spongy pedal that means you have air in the line. The obvious solution to that is to jack it back up, pull the rim and tire, and bleed the brakes. After that you should be fine.

 

[86LK]

You need to adjust the brakes with the drum on if there is a ridge on the outside of the drum or you can file or grind the ridge off or have the drum machined. I don't understand what you mean that the bracket (that is the actuator lever) doesn't line up with the adjuster. It looks fine in your picture. Is the actuator lever still attached to the parking brake lever? Look at where they connect to each other. If they aren't attached to each other, pop the spring out that holds the adjuster lever up against the adjuster, connect the levers together and pop the spring back in.

I think he thinks it HAS to sit on the gear edge all the time. as we know it does not. as the shoes wear and it extends further out the actuating lever will ride up on the gear and eventually catch a gear spoke and cause it to move

 

[78Delta88]

The star adjuster only works in reverse as the car is backing up.

When you brake, the lever flips up and ratchets one step at a time. If no adjustment is needed it just ratchets over... The star wheel does not turn.

It does not adjust in forward gear.