The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Adjusting drum brakes

Want to make sure I'm doing this correctly.
I jacked up the front and rear of my truck and adjusted the brakes until I hear the brake shoes rub the drum, then turn it a bit more.

I notice after a drive that the rear drums are much hotter than the front which seems like it should be the opposite. Also, when I back off the rear, then the parking brake doesn't hold the truck solid.

Any suggestions from the pros?
Do drums need to be adjusted once a month or so?

Hy jomichael, you'll no doubt get many answers to this question, I'll tell you the method I was taught, and use. You can do the job as you suggest with the truck jacked up all the way around, or you can do one wheel at a time. Adjust the brakes up all the way until the drum can no longer be turned, this centers the linings in the drum, now back the adjusting wheel off no more than seven notches. As to when to adjust the brakes, the feel and position of your brake pedal is your best indicator, you should adjust your brakes when the brake pedal gets so close to the floor that you cannot slide your free foot between the pedal and the floor, of course you can adjust them much sooner than that if you wish. At one time you could buy convertion kits to convert manual adjusters to automatic adjusters, I don't know if those kits are still available or not, hope that helps.

Thanks for the response.

How hard should it be to turn it by hand? I'm able to turn the rear tires with a little effort using one hand.

When you drive around, say 10 miles on flat ground, how hot do your drums get? Are the front normally hotter than the rear when adjusted correctly?

I guess tightening the front will reduce the work the rears are doing.

At 10 mph your drums should not get hot at all. I would back them off a little and see how it affects your pedal stroke.

Hy jomichael, your brakes should never get "hot" under most driving conditions, the exception would be a winding downhill mountain road. After you make your adjustments, then step on the brake pedal to re-center your brake shoes, then you can check to see how easily the wheels turn. After a normal drive your brake drums should be warm to the touch, if they are hotter than that they may be adjusted too tightly, metalic brake linings generate more heat than "organic" linings. Hope that helps.

.....if time is no problem you may want to pull the drums back off and look at the shoes. There is a chance the "ends" of the shoe lininig is dragging before the rest of the shoes. You should be able to tell. With the quality we get these days I'd suggest "rounding" the end of the square cut on the shoes just a bit to make sure that the ends aren't whats causing the problem.
Worth a peek isn't it?