I just finished replacing all the rear brake components (hardware, drums, shoes, & hard lines on axle) and the braking is less than stellar. I adjusted the shoes twice and not much improvement. I'm guessing that I still need to adjust them more. I went for a drive and upon returning home, the drums weren't even warm to the touch. My e-brake which worked prior to this worked well. Now it's pretty ineffective.

Would all this point to needing more adjusting?

Any ideas?

 

Watch this.....

 

OP, Yes it sounds like you need to adjust the rear brakes more. Also did you bleed them to make sure that all of the air was out of the system?

 

You want the drum BARELY able to turn around the shoes.

Slide the drum part way on and adjust till you can't turn it over the shoes. Then back of 3-4 clicks.

Sounds like you need to bleed them too

 

I bled them but I had a problem with my power bleeder so I wasn't totally satisfied with the bleeding. I'm going to bleed them again as well as adjusting them again using the method suggested.

 

Bled the brakes and all is good regarding that. I adjusted the brakes but one thing I did notice is that the ebrake strut (it has a new spring) is loose. I used ones from Napa and verified that they are the correct part #'s. Thinking about this, I'm guessing that the shoes aren't seating on the post correctly and I'll tear into it again for a look see. Any other ideas?

 

Another classic example of pilot error. The loose strut was because I had installed the spring reversed. Another error I found was that the cable guides weren't seated properly. I corrected both issues and will adjust the brakes. All should be good now.....

 

Posted wrong link last time I just noticed........

 

Thanks!

 

I had that issue and after the 3rd time taking off the drums I realized the cable guides weren't flush. If only they took c-clips on the backside then it would be a lot easier to keep em flush.