Adjust brake shoe to drum clearance et al

Hello All

Sorry to be posting through Google, but my ISP (Verizon) is about to end Usenet access because "there are more exciting alternatives." Yeah.

Anyway, two questions for my 92 XLT (which I still have and is still alive, well and beautiful at 103,000!)

For the first time (after the dealership adjusted my emergency brakes last year), I find that to remove the left drum today, I had to back off the rear brake adjusting screw (never had to do that before).

The pads still look fine (more on that in a second).

Question 1: When I put the drum back on, do I have to manually retighten the adjusting screw? My Haynes book says "...install the drum and adjust the shoe-to-drum clearance" with no further details!!! Do I simply do some backups and let the truck adjust itself or do I have to adjust do it manually with the adjusting screw star wheel first? (I have not removed the right side drum.) If I have to do it manually, how do I know when I've turned the adjuster enough? (The Ford shop manual seems silent on this as well)

Question 2: Should I replace the shoes? The shop manual say to replace when the lining reaches 1/32 of an inch above any rivet head (Haynes says 1/16). I checked with a depth gauge. The pad clearance above the rivet heads ranges from slightly over 5/64 to 9/64. It's pretty much the same as when I posed this question here last year (I only drove about 2,000 miles because I now commute by train!).

The only issue is with the forward pad. One of the two lowest rivets is not holding down the lining completely. There's a slight space between the lining and the metal mount in the lower corner. I can pry it slightly wider with the blade of a screw driver. (I can't fit the entire blade into the space). In every other spot, the lining is held down tightly. It was like this last year, when the delaer tried to get me to replace all the brakes (including the front ones, which are slightly more than halfway worn (All the brakes are the originals).

So do I have another year or two on these, or do they need to be replaced? I'm about to go in for state inspection again.

Thanks as usual for your advice everyone!!

Regards, Anthony Giorgianni

Reply to
TonyG
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I would not bother replacing them. To adjust them, put the drum on and if they don't seem to be touching take it back off and rotate the star wheel to expand them and then test fit the drum again. When it's just starting to touch, put the drum on with a couple lug nuts to hold it secure and then push the brake pedal to fully seat and center the brake shoes. Then adjust the drums to that you just barely hear a hint of them touching the drum and then back off a click or two.

Reply to
Ashton Crusher

Thanks for the advice.

One thing though. If I only have one side of the vehicle raised, I won't be able to rotate the drum yes? So is it enough just to adjust them so the shoes just barely touch when I slide the drum on. Will it matter if the right side, which I'm not removing (since this was only an inspection) is adjusted tighter as a result of self-adjustment. or will the adjustment equalize? (Sorry if this is a dumb question)

Regards, Anthony Giorgianni

Reply to
TonyG

You will have less chances for "gotchas" to creep into the equation if you can spin the drum to ensure no tight spots after reassembly.... in all honesty, I would recommend that you spend a few bucks and get some jack stands so that you can (a:) - work safely under the car and (b:) have an entire axle off the ground at one time...

Back to the task at hand... once a drum brake has been disturbed, my own preference is to tighten the adjuster (through the adjustment hole... with the drum in place and held on by at least two nuts all the way... so that the drum cannot be rotated. This will centre the linings and hardware. Then, back the adjustment off until either a very, very slight (or, preferably, no) sound is heard when the drunm is rotated... Auto adjusters can be very slow to adjust a brake if we get lazy.

While this method may seem anal to some.... it beats having bystanders reactions when you drop the car in gear and start madly pumping the brake trying to stop the vehicles "mind of it's own" progress towards the closest expensive object.

The linings... a loose lining on a shoe is unacceptable... accepted industry practice would be to replace the brake shoes as a set. Let us remember that we are discussing brakes.... We will always have one more chance to start the car.... How many chances do we get at stopping it?

Reply to
Jim Warman

Hey Jim

Thanks for the advice as usual!!!

I do have jackstands. But since this was only to inspect the brake lining thickness, I was trying to do things simply.

So I guess you're saying that loose corner on the shoe means everything has to be replaced huh? Oh boy. I have the replacement shoes, so I guess I should do it.

Thanks again. Hope all is well up there in the muskeg!

Regards, Anth> You will have less chances for "gotchas" to creep into the equation if yo= u

Reply to
TonyG

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