I've got another one for ya.

Riddle me this: why would the self adjusting lever (that sits over the star of the adjuster) sit at the middle of the star on one side but on the bottom of the star on the other? Pulling the driver side drum revealed that the lever somehow got stuck above the star! I can get it to sit at the bottom of the star like the passenger side does. Could the new adjuster cable be too short from the factory?

This sucks. I want discs. Dear Santa (aka Wife)... lol

 

Nine times out of ten what happens is that we get pissed off and in our frustration, we make mistakes.

1. Is the ring on the self-adjusting cable over the skinny part of the retainer pin and seated in the cable guide?

2. Are you certain the lever is mounted in the correct hole.

3. Are you certain the tensioning spring is anchored in the correct hole in the shoe?

Maybe you can post an updated photo of what you're dealing with?

 

Well I just came inside and I've got an update. Got the drums turning nicely with no grabbing either forward or backward. The adjuster levers were corrected and only letting the star turn one direction without 'lifting' the lever.

Adjusted them and put it all back together AGAIN with fingers/toes/genitals crossed that all would be good. Go for a drive and immediately I am noticing a kind of bucking when turning. WTH? Turns out I forgot to put it back into 2wd because I have always used 4x4 when working on the rear as kind of a safegaurd. Out of 4x4 before hitting anything over 15mph (thank God) and off we go. So far so good up to 35 mph. No noises, no dragging, no vibes, good braking. Hit route 17 and open it up slowly to 55mph (the speed limit that everyone ignores), still no issues. Hit the gas and catch up with everyone else at 70mph. Good to go, no shaking or grabbing. Slow it down, pull a uturn at the next turn around and head home. Park in reverse with no issues, full stops from speed no problem. Park and check the brakes visually. Both drums are putting off the same amount of heat (hot to the touch but not like smoking or discolored).

Hopefully I am in the clear. I still have the faintest smell though from the brakes. I can't help but wonder if it is the wd40 I sprayed on the ebrake cable linkages (not on the shoes or drums!).

 

Well, that's great news. New shoes (and pads) will occasionally smell until they go through a few heat cycles, especially organics and semi-metallic. The most important measure of success is the hub temperature. If it's dragging, even a little bit, water will sizzle on the hub. I'm assuming you didn't make any manual adjustments? I hate to recommend that you do something that may ruin this happy moment but you need to go forward>brake, backwards>brake, and repeat 10 times and then repeat the test drive you did earlier followed by a (careful) hub temp check. That procedure will spread the adjustment screw and properly tension the shoes within the drum. You might hear a clicking noise when you brake in reverse, that's the gear wheel locking on the retainer plate and it's normal.

You might as well do it in a controlled environment because you'll eventually brake going forward and back during normal driving and you don't want any surprises far from home.

 

Actually I did have to make adjustments which made me optmistic. The right side needed turned to show about one full thread on the adjuster. The drivers side needed just a tad more (the side that had the FUBAR self adjuster that scraped the drum a bit. I need to do the reverse-stop and forward-stop a little more though. Will do that as soon as I get back from Winchester today. Thanks for yours and everyone else who assisted help!

 

Oh hey, I know you!!! You emailed me that picture a while ago, when the facebook page "I hate it when I take the doors of my XJ and the unibody folds in half" shared it. Cool! lol

To the OP, glad you got it sorted out. Next time your brakes are out on the rear, you know the logical thing to do!

 

Come to the forum and cuss violently? Lol

 

Glad you got it figured out. That is a big reason why I converted to discs. No real adjustments. Just install & drive.

Simple install & less hassle than drums.

 

See? It's a small world.

 

Brakes were kind of grabbing today when I drove 15 miles out of town. Still no vibes at speed and I say 'kinda' because they seemed to only do it after I parked it and for the first few moments of driving. After stopping a time or two, no problem! Go and park or stop for a while (troublesome red light..) it would grab slightly until I drove again.

After all of this and we got home, I pulled forward-stopped and reversed-stopped a few times each. Hopefully that did the trick because I swear I heard some ratcheting back there when I did.

 

Supposedly the drums are self adjusting and they do it in reverse.

 

Lets hope so.

 

The brakes are self-adjusting but they only adjust in one direction. The self-adjustment is designed to compensate for worn shoes. As they wear, the self adjustment pin will expand the shoes to compensate for the worn shoes. If the brake shoes are already too tight, that won't change.

How does your parking brake feel? How many clicks with a normal pull ? A normal pull on a properly adjusted parking brake should result in 7-8 clicks. I don't recall whether you made any attempt to adjust it but you should. Release the locking nuts at the equalizer (located in the transmission/driveshaft tunnel under the handbrake lever) and back them off. Jack up the rear axle and check wheel rotation for binding. Remember to take it out of 4x4, LOL. If they're still grabbing then either of two things are occurring: 1) your parking brake cable has bound in the housing and isn't allowing it to fully release or 2) There is something wrong with your rear drums which could be the result of installation or damaged parts like a warped drum or damaged hub that is causing the drum to wobble. We'll deal with that when we get to it.

 

It seems to me the self adjusters don't work well. It seemed to me that if I apply the parking brake, then sit there and shift from to drive to park and back repeatedly, that actually does make the lever work the adjuster wheel. I feel so stupid doing that, I prefer to just go after it with the spoon tool. Anyway I do think that action really "put's it to" to adjuster.

As far as grabbing...the "primary" is the shoe with the shorter lining, and goes forward? Right? I'm not sure but if they were reversed it might grab, maybe why it's shorter...the one after the cylinder. (Like F1's pic in post #42)

 

The auto-adjuster actually works. I know this because I used the technique I described for '91Jeep_Man and it made a huge difference in my just-installed brake shoes. Not like, 'Hmmm, well they feel a little different?' but like, 'holy $#!&'. That doesn't mean that there can't be something going on that prevents it from working.

As far as the asymmetrical use of friction material... I have no idea why they do that.