Just changed out everything in the rear drum brakes and wondering how to go about adjusting the star adjuster at the bottom of the shoes.

I've been told the star adjuster in most drum brakes adjust either when the e-brake handle is pulled or when the vehicle goes into reverse. I'm not sure which is the case with my XJ but I suspect it's the former. Can anybody verify this for me and advise on how to adjust? Simply pull the e-brake lever a bunch of times I would assume.

Thanks

Jack the rear end up. Safely block the vehicle from moving and put it on jackstands.

Put the Jeep in neutral. Parking brake off. Remove the rubber plug on the backing plate of the drum. You can use a wide flat-blade screwdriver through the hole to engage the star wheel. Engage the teeth on the star wheel and move the screwdriver down, turning the star wheel. At the same time, spin the wheel/tire assemble as you go. When you hear and feel resistance to turning the tire, keep moving the star wheel a couple of more times. You stop when the wheel and tire is fairly difficult to turn by hand.

Repeat for the other side. The self-adjusting feature will keep them adjusted from now on. They adjust when you back up fairly quickly and apply the brakes pretty firmly. The parking brake has nothing to do with the adjusting of the shoes.

Firestorm500 wrote pretty much what I said on NAXJA to ya.

Don't use the e-brake to adjust the rears. It will probably NOT work, or it will take FOREVER as the "clicks" on the star are tiny compared to the adjustment needed on a fresh brake job.

Right on diskman thanks for the info!