Hi everyone! New to the forum and new to drum brakes so please bare with me. Basically I changed my shoes on my drum brakes to try sort the poor braking of the car. I then noticed the issue persisted and the adjustment wedge was severely worn. Yesterday I replaced the rest of the mechanism and adjusted the wedge and bled the rear cylinders and at first the brakes were perfect. Little travel in the brake pedal. However today I noticed the pedal travel has increased again and my hand brake sits at around 9 clicks... any ideas as to why my brakes keep loosening up?
drum brake issue
- Thread starter Dale2015
- Start date
I have not adjusted the handbrake cable in the car if thats what you mean. I adjusted the wedge when I put the drums back together so that I can only just spin the wheel. This seemed fine for the first 400 meters or so then it seemed to back off again. See I am trying to get the drums adjusted as best I can before I then adjust the handbrake cable. I dont think there are any leaks. With the engine off if i firmly push the brake pedal It sits solid after about 1 inch of movement. I believe it would slowly depress if there was a leak correct?
It would only depress of the master cylinder was faulty.
Could be a little air in the system and has settled over night.
The handbrake will need adjusting at the lever side to reduce the clicks.
Sounds like you've done everything else ok.
Could be a little air in the system and has settled over night.
The handbrake will need adjusting at the lever side to reduce the clicks.
Sounds like you've done everything else ok.
Ah well it does not depress and I see no leaks under my car anywhere. I filled the fluid to max yesterday so will check again in a day or two. With the air in the system what exactly would I have to bleed? After i replaced the cylinders and all yesterday I bled both rear drums until air stopped coming out then a little more. Also if the engine is off (so power assisted braking is not on) should there be ANY travel in the pedal while the handbrake is fully active or will the travel be caused by air? I may be wrong but I thought the travel should be caused by the rear shoes having to be pushed further out for contact with the drum but with the handbrake on the shoes should already be in contact with the drum correct? However I could just be being picky with how much travel the brake pedal has due to me spending so much on the brakes for no improvement 
I had around 1" travel on my brakes, however, my rears were disc.
If you have bled them, then air shouldn't be an issue. There will always be movement as the handbrake is cable and the same shoes are also hydraulically pressed through brake pedal.
As the cable moves the shoes (doing the job of the hydraulic foot brake) there is a small gap created as the hydraulic part hasn't moved. Also the foot brake moves the fronts as well
If you have bled them, then air shouldn't be an issue. There will always be movement as the handbrake is cable and the same shoes are also hydraulically pressed through brake pedal.
As the cable moves the shoes (doing the job of the hydraulic foot brake) there is a small gap created as the hydraulic part hasn't moved. Also the foot brake moves the fronts as well
Oh yeah i forgot about that gap haha. With air getting in the system at the rear I wouldn't also need to bleed the front brakes will I? I have about an inch of movement on my brake pedal. maybe 1" and a half before it engages enough to lock up. So all this money I've spent and it seems actually I just need to tighten my handbrake cable? I suppose one part of the issue was partially defective cylinders+the adjustment wedges being massively deteriorated about 50% up. Also if I did slam on, the rear brakes would creak very loudly when i release the pedal and thats gone too
Ah well it does not depress and I see no leaks under my car anywhere. I filled the fluid to max yesterday so will check again in a day or two. With the air in the system what exactly would I have to bleed? After i replaced the cylinders and all yesterday I bled both rear drums until air stopped coming out then a little more. Also if the engine is off (so power assisted braking is not on) should there be ANY travel in the pedal while the handbrake is fully active or will the travel be caused by air? I may be wrong but I thought the travel should be caused by the rear shoes having to be pushed further out for contact with the drum but with the handbrake on the shoes should already be in contact with the drum correct? However I could just be being picky with how much travel the brake pedal has due to me spending so much on the brakes for no improvement
There will still be some travel in the pedal as you also need to account for the front brakes, from your description it sounds like the shoes are self adjusting get the handbrake adjusted correctly first as proper adjustment of the shoes requires a good handbrake to begin with.
when you have adjusted the shoes to where you think they should be apply the hand brake on and off a few times and recheck before reassembling can end up doing this quite a few times before they are adjusted correctly.
So the handbrake adjusts the drums? Never heard that before so that may be where I am going wrong. So tomorrow Ill tighten the handbrake, and with the manual adjustment... Do I want to be able to turn the wheel easily or do I want the wedge tight enough so that it is difficult to turn the wheel? Sorry for the nooby questions. My discs/Pads went like a charm but my drums have been a constant nightmare
They tend to have self adjustment to allow the handbrake not to slacken as the friction material wears away,
You want to adjust the the manual adjustment until you can hear feel a slight resistance then tighten the handbrake cable to between 4-6 clicks move the hand brake up and down 3-4 times recheck the number of clicks adjust as needed and then recheck the movement of the drums adjust as needed.
You want to adjust the the manual adjustment until you can hear feel a slight resistance then tighten the handbrake cable to between 4-6 clicks move the hand brake up and down 3-4 times recheck the number of clicks adjust as needed and then recheck the movement of the drums adjust as needed.
Ah I get you. So do my initial manual adjustment, then adjust the handbrake cable to the desired clicks, then apply and remove the hand brake a few times and ensure it is still the same clicks. if not readjust the cable and recheck the resistance at the drum?
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