I spent altogether too much time trying to adjust the parking brakes on my '82 300CD last Saturday. I read the directions in my Haynes manual, and I understand the principle: remove a lug bolt, rotate the wheel about
45 degrees toward the front of the car to line the hole up with the ratchet wheel, and turn the ratchet until the wheel can't be moved by hand; then back it off two or three clicks. Piece of cake.
This worked exactly as described on the right brake. But I must've turned the ratchet wheel on the left brake a hundred clicks in either direction from where I started, and I never did get the shoes to seat against the inside of the drum.
Which direction of the ratchet wheel is the tightening direction? Is it the same from one side of the car to the other, or are the brake assemblies mirror images of each other? (You'd think this would've been described explicitly in the damned Haynes manual, but noooo...)
Thanks, Geoff Miller