rear brake adjustment on 2001 sephia

The rear adjuster on the sephia is a pain, it uses a toothed arrangement that is supposed to hold the shoes apart as they wear. On mine the 'adjuster' was frozen together, I had to take the shoes out to fix it. The adjuster assembly is on the upper bar just below the wheel cylinder.

Chris

It's a pity that ALLdatadiy.com didn't have the instructions on how to make this adjustment. I don't think that this vehicle ever adjusted. Can the adjustment be made from the outside or does one have to do this with the drum off?

Thanks,

Jim

I had to take the drum off to do mine. The easiest way to accomplish this is to remove the #3 sized phillips drum retaining screw and then thread that screw into the jacking hole 90 degrees away(radially). As the screw is tightened it will press the drum off the hub. Make sure you have a good fitting #3 genuine phillips. I have a craftsman one that has a handle that you can put a crescent wrench on for additional leverage to break the screw loose.

Last time I fixed this I put a very small quantity of wheel bearing grease on the adjuster assembly. It did not last very long as I think the adjuster is frozen up again. I would suggest using anti-sieze compound.

Chris

Ok, so the adjusting screw is a Phillips Head? HaHa, and here I was trying to adjust it with a regular screwdriver. I spent a good 15 minutes dicking around with it and gave up. At least I found the hole in the back of the mounting plate with the ity bity rubber plug. No wonder it didn't adjust. My next window of opportunity is next weekend. I looked at the front brakes and they're pretty low as well. I do remember that I had a hell of time getting the right pads from Kia. Turns out the correct ones fit a 2002 Spectra, not a 2001 Sephia.

My other daughter has a Mitsubishi Galant and she needed a calipers. Her car is a 4 cylinder. I had a rough time with them until we tried the calipers from a 6 cylinder and then they fit.

Why does this always happen to me?

Anyway, thanks.

Jim

Jim,

The screw that holds the drum on is a #3 phillips. There are no provisions for making a travel adjustment short of removing the drum to my knowledge. The 'plug' that I believe you are referring to is merely an inspection hole for looking at the thickness of the shoes.

Chris

Well, that's a mighty small hole to look at anything. So what you are saying is that to adjust the brake shoes manually you have to remove the drum? And this is assuming nothing is frozen?

Jim

I had to remove the drum to get at mine. If it is rusted to the hub you may have to use a hex-head bolt in the jackscrew hole. I was always able to press it apart with just the force of the phillips screw but your experience may be different.

Chris