Adjusting drum brakes
05-06-2014, 02:11 PM
#1
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Thread Starter
Join Date: 12-06-2010
Location: shamokin, pa
Posts: 134
Adjusting drum brakes
Where I live we don't parallele park so drum brakes don't self adjust. In the "old days" we used the "spoon" thru a slot on bottom of backing plate. How does one do an HHR?
05-06-2014, 03:35 PM
#3
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Join Date: 04-09-2006
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Posts: 7,032
The search tool at the top of the page works - looking for "drum brake adjustment" gave this link as the first in the search results: https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/brakes-%7C-suspension-%7C-shocks-%7C-struts-24/proper-rear-drum-brake-adjustment-procedure-36754/
05-06-2014, 08:31 PM
#5
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Join Date: 06-20-2011
Location: Savanna Illinois
Posts: 737
Part of the deal is you probably have to take the brakes apart and clean things up or maybe replace the self adjuster before you try to set the brakes.
Mine were solid with rust. I managed to get them apart and knock them apart then cleaned up the parts and put some silver anti seize stuff on the parts before reassembling the whole thing.
Cleaning things up worked for me but I still replaced the parts the next summer anyway. The new parts were also coated with the silver anti seize just to make sure they would not get jammed up.
Sometimes a little preventative maintenance is better than fixing jammed up stuff later.
Mine were solid with rust. I managed to get them apart and knock them apart then cleaned up the parts and put some silver anti seize stuff on the parts before reassembling the whole thing.
Cleaning things up worked for me but I still replaced the parts the next summer anyway. The new parts were also coated with the silver anti seize just to make sure they would not get jammed up.
Sometimes a little preventative maintenance is better than fixing jammed up stuff later.
05-06-2014, 11:54 PM
#8
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Join Date: 10-06-2011
Location: Mesa, AZ
Posts: 1,150
+1
I rotate the tires with every oil change which is every 3k miles by my cars computers request lol. So I check/adjust mine every 3k miles.
05-07-2014, 06:05 AM
#9
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Join Date: 12-06-2009
Location: Alabama
Posts: 11,100
[QUOTE=07azhhr;746777]In most other drum brake equipped cars, going in reverse and then applying the brakes will adjust the drum brakes. Our cars do not for some reason.
Yeah, I'm very aware of the drum brake operations. Did a bunch of brake jobs back in my mechanic days.
Just didn't get the parallel parking quote. Sounded like the OP never backs up and uses the brakes any other time.
Yeah, I'm very aware of the drum brake operations. Did a bunch of brake jobs back in my mechanic days.Just didn't get the parallel parking quote. Sounded like the OP never backs up and uses the brakes any other time.