Brake Drum adjusting?

Hey guys - I was a Ford man for 14 years, but then I got a good deal on an '03 Mazda Protege, maybe my downfall...there is no Mazda group and Ford enthusiasts in this NG seem to know a lot more about car issues then anybody else.

Anyway, I have had nothing but issues with the brake feel and firmness and pedal height with this car. It has drums in the rear, and it seems like they go out of 'adjustment' so quickly. It is an automatic, I always use the e-brake to keep it from seizing, I know the trick about driving in reverse and hitting the brakes hard, supposedly adjusting them. None of this seems to work. I am constantly pulling the drums and adjusting the ratchet to snug up the shoes then sliding the drum back on and making sure there is a little drag ensuring good pedal height and brake feel. It works for about 5000 miles but then the brakes start to feel 'limp' again and if I pull the wheels and spin the drums they will spin and spin with no slight drag at all. What is the deal, I never had this problem with any of my Fords, but I have a lot invested in this car and hate to part with it just because of the brakes.

Any ideas or thoughts on this?

Thanks, Eric

Reply to
Eric L. Hulliberger
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My guess is you do not drive in situations where you must "back up" very often? Modern cars have self adjust brakes that "adjust" themselves when one applies the brakes. after backing the vehicle.

Reply to
Mike hunt

Some also adjust the rear brakes when you engage the hand brake/parking brake.

Reply to
Robert Sveinson

The OP said, "It is an automatic, I always use the e-brake to keep it from seizing, I know the trick about driving in reverse and hitting the brakes hard, supposedly adjusting them."

Careful reading of the post would tell one that not only does the OP know about this, but he does back up and apply the brakes.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

What part of often enough did you not understand, once a week or ten times? LOL

Reply to
Mike hunt

Only a twit make a reply asking "what part of often enough did you not understand...?" when he did not even use the words "often enough." Nor did you make a reference to once a week or ten times.

When he asked for thoughts on this, he meant from someone who is actually able to think.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

DUH. Stiill a bit show I see "My guess is you do not drive in situations where you must "back up" very often?"

Reply to
Mike hunt

often? Modern cars have self adjust brakes that

I have a long (often ice coated driveway) & I usually get a nice fresh rear brake adjustment every morning when I back up my Ranger to go to work. The icy conditions sometimes sends me into the snowbank then my rear bumper gets an adjustment.

Reply to
Shawn

these groups show up at my ISP

rec.autos.makers.mazda

free.autos.mazda

Reply to
I. Care

Actually I do apply the brakes hard every time I back out of my driveway each morning ever since this started happening about 2 years ago. The springs and adjuster are very clean and shiny since I clean the hardware every time I pull the drums to adjust the shoes. And I do apply the e-brake each and every time I park it. Guess it is habit, I owned sticks from 1989 to 2003.

Reply to
Mary Jane Hulliberger

Guys - I didn't intend to start a war here, I am sorry if I did. I just wanted some honest advice, when I owned all my Fords I always came to this group with Q's about one thing or another, I truly trust the knowledge of you guys over even the local mechs in my area. I am writing from my mom's machine but it is me.

Eric

Reply to
Mary Jane Hulliberger

Actually I came to this NG as i believe as a lot of brake components and other things are very similar to the last Ford i owned. I know my 95 Escort was a collaboration of Ford/Mazda. The drum brakes are almost identical but I never had a prob with the Escort drums. The Mazda groups seemed pretty dead, while this Ford group is always busy.

Eric

Reply to
Mary Jane Hulliberger

Eric -

i have been working with drum brakes as a hobbiest "shade tree" mechanic for... umm, a long time. The design hasn't changed much in 40 years. Perfectly set up, drums should never have drag until applied. Part of the beauty of the design is that they self-apply, the rotation of the wheel actually pulls the shoe tighter.

The only way I can accurately judge if drums are working is to carefully and safely raise the wheel, spin it, and step on the brake. If it stops, all is good. This was quite easy on RWD cars, provided you raised both wheels and used jack stands.

If your brakes are mushy, I suspect something else may be the actual cause. Perhaps an all-around bleeding would help. The front brakes do most of the stopping, anyway. Do they check out OK?

Hope this is helpful...

PoD

Reply to
Paul of Dayton

There are lots of Mazda forums on the web. Here are a few:

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Reply to
SRN

PoD - Thanks for your thoughts. When I tighten up the drums, I do get a higher pedal and more 'friction' feel. Somebody once told me back about

1990 when I put my first set of brakes on my first car that after putting on shoes you should adjust them so that there is a slight drag after you get the wheel back on and spin it. I have always gone by this principle, and but that car cost me $700 and was a real winner so brake feel wasn't as important as when you are driving a car you paid $12,000 for. The fronts are going to need to done probably in a year or so, they seem to last about 3 or 4 years, it has alloys so I can visually see discs are slightly grooved as would be expected with probably 25,000 on them, but pads look nice and thick still. This car has never had calipers or wheel cyl, or master cyl opened so I can't imagine it needs to bled, but who knows, you might be right there. Once the weather gets above freezing around here, I might get a buddy over and pop open the calipers and wheel cyl and bleed them.

Thanks, Eric

Reply to
Eric L. Hulliberger

Reason I came back to this group is because there are a lot of knowledgeable people here that I always relied on for work I did on my past Fords...and I figured well brakes are brakes...

Eric

Reply to
Eric L. Hulliberger

Eric, I had another thought about your symptoms as I was out running errands.

I had a 1984 Thunderbird - front disc, rear drum. I loved it and kept it for years. Oddly, it ran thru tires, especially on front. Everything checked out in the suspension and body and stuff so I chalked it up to having the V8 when it was designed for a lighter motor.

A few years later I realized that, any time I had made a sudden stop, the front wheels locked and I had a skid. Much digging later, I found the rear brake cylinders were frozen and moved just enough to engage the drums when freshly adjusted as you have described but was worthless after the shoes wore down. I finally had someone hit the brake for me while I watched the pistons.

I suspect the car never had working rear brakes because the difference in feel was very noticeable once I replaced the rear cylinder assemblies.

Just be sure whoever is helping is light on the brake pedal because, if they are ok, they won't be after a hard application with no drum on.

Hope it helps!

Paul

Reply to
Paul of Dayton

I came back to this group because there are a lot of knowledgeable people here that I always relied on for work I did on my past Fords...and I figured well brakes are brakes... ____________________________________________

If the star-wheel jackscrews in the brake adjusters are different for left and right wheels, and if they are swapped, backing up will loosen the brakes.

It doesn't hurt to check.

Good luck.

Rodan.

Reply to
Rodan

is the self adjuster mechanism intact and functiong?

Reply to
Jim Warman

Thanks Paul- I actually made that mistake once in about 1991 when I wanted to see if my rear wheel cylinders were frozen or not and I pulled the drums and had somebody hit the brakes, and BOOM out came the pistons, had to have it flat bed towed to a brake shop...I kind of wondered about my wheel cyl, I am going to try your idea this weekend, supposed to be 45 on Sunday so that should be warm enough...

Eric

Reply to
Eric L. Hulliberger

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