Adjust brake shoe to drum clearance et al

[TonyG]

Hello All

Sorry to be posting through Google, but my ISP (Verizon) is about to
end Usenet access because "there are more exciting alternatives."
Yeah.

Anyway, two questions for my 92 XLT (which I still have and is still
alive, well and beautiful at 103,000!)

For the first time (after the dealership adjusted my emergency brakes
last year), I find that to remove the left drum today, I had to back
off the rear brake adjusting screw (never had to do that before).

The pads still look fine (more on that in a second).

Question 1: When I put the drum back on, do I have to manually
retighten the adjusting screw? My Haynes book says "...install the
drum and adjust the shoe-to-drum clearance" with no further details!!!
Do I simply do some backups and let the truck adjust itself or do I
have to adjust do it manually with the adjusting screw star wheel
first? (I have not removed the right side drum.) If I have to do it
manually, how do I know when I've turned the adjuster enough? (The
Ford shop manual seems silent on this as well)

Question 2: Should I replace the shoes? The shop manual say to replace
when the lining reaches 1/32 of an inch above any rivet head (Haynes
says 1/16). I checked with a depth gauge. The pad clearance above the
rivet heads ranges from slightly over 5/64 to 9/64. It's pretty much
the same as when I posed this question here last year (I only drove
about 2,000 miles because I now commute by train!).

The only issue is with the forward pad. One of the two lowest rivets
is not holding down the lining completely. There's a slight space
between the lining and the metal mount in the lower corner. I can pry
it slightly wider with the blade of a screw driver. (I can't fit the
entire blade into the space). In every other spot, the lining is held
down tightly. It was like this last year, when the delaer tried to get
me to replace all the brakes (including the front ones, which are
slightly more than halfway worn (All the brakes are the originals).

So do I have another year or two on these, or do they need to be
replaced? I'm about to go in for state inspection again.

Thanks as usual for your advice everyone!!

Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni

[Ashton Crusher]

I would not bother replacing them. To adjust them, put the drum on
and if they don't seem to be touching take it back off and rotate the
star wheel to expand them and then test fit the drum again. When it's
just starting to touch, put the drum on with a couple lug nuts to hold
it secure and then push the brake pedal to fully seat and center the
brake shoes. Then adjust the drums to that you just barely hear a
hint of them touching the drum and then back off a click or two.

[TonyG]

Thanks for the advice.

One thing though. If I only have one side of the vehicle raised, I
won't be able to rotate the drum yes? So is it enough just to adjust
them so the shoes just barely touch when I slide the drum on. Will it
matter if the right side, which I'm not removing (since this was only
an inspection) is adjusted tighter as a result of self-adjustment. or
will the adjustment equalize? (Sorry if this is a dumb question)

Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni

[Jim Warman]

You will have less chances for "gotchas" to creep into the equation if you
can spin the drum to ensure no tight spots after reassembly.... in all
honesty, I would recommend that you spend a few bucks and get some jack
stands so that you can (a:) - work safely under the car and (b:) have an
entire axle off the ground at one time...

Back to the task at hand... once a drum brake has been disturbed, my own
preference is to tighten the adjuster (through the adjustment hole... with
the drum in place and held on by at least two nuts all the way... so that
the drum cannot be rotated. This will centre the linings and hardware. Then,
back the adjustment off until either a very, very slight (or, preferably,
no) sound is heard when the drunm is rotated... Auto adjusters can be very
slow to adjust a brake if we get lazy.

While this method may seem anal to some.... it beats having bystanders
reactions when you drop the car in gear and start madly pumping the brake
trying to stop the vehicles "mind of it's own" progress towards the closest
expensive object.

The linings... a loose lining on a shoe is unacceptable... accepted industry
practice would be to replace the brake shoes as a set. Let us remember that
we are discussing brakes.... We will always have one more chance to start
the car.... How many chances do we get at stopping it?

"TonyG" <ajgior...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:beb6e1ed-fd21-4bbb...@37g2000yqm.googlegroups.com...

[TonyG]

Hey Jim

Thanks for the advice as usual!!!

I do have jackstands. But since this was only to inspect the brake
lining thickness, I was trying to do things simply.

So I guess you're saying that loose corner on the shoe means
everything has to be replaced huh? Oh boy. I have the replacement
shoes, so I guess I should do it.

Thanks again. Hope all is well up there in the muskeg!

Regards,
Anthony Giorgianni