When I recently replaced my rear brake shoes / wheel cylinders & hardware kits in my Dodge, I found it difficult to adjust the rear brakes properly.

In order to adjust the star wheel to the proper clearance, you need to "spin the drum" in the forwards direction while adjusting the wheel to where you hear the shoes just begin to touch the drum, as explained in Jim Lane's sticky about drum brake adjustment.

What I found to be a problem with my adjustment was the obvious problems of dealing with a heavy duty truck.... shear weight of the tire / drum and pressure from the trac loc differential moving both wheels..... but I found a simple answer that will hopefully help anyone out there who is going to be working on their brakes.


Since there is so much weight on that axle, I first removed the tires after the truck was jacked up and on stands, as Jim pointed out the safe way of working on our trucks, or any vehicle for that matter. I still found it difficult to "spin the drum" with all of the tension on the hub from the trac loc & the other drum spinning.

I came up with the simple concept of removing all of the pressure on the drum by removing the outer axle bolts in the full floater hub and pulling the axle out about 1/8" off of the hub. This allowed me to "free spin" the drum while adjusting the star wheel.

With the truck not running, I could hear the contact point of the drum hitting the new shoes. After reaching that point, I hopped back into the truck, hit the brakes a few times to re-seat the shoes, and went back to the adjustment process. The disconnected axle allowed me to easily spin the drum without needing to be gorilla strong to spin both axles and the diff @ the same time. After adjustment, I put the bolts back in and replaced the tires.

In reality, you don't have to remove the tire, but since I was bleeding the brakes as well , it worked best for me. Once I drive around for a week or so, I'll readjust the rear shoes after the "break in" period has ended.

Hope this helps someone out there to maximize their braking efficiency while not stressing themselves out while doing so.

On a final note:

Since I just filled my diff with new gear oil, some of the oil leaked out while the adjusting process took place, due to the axle being removed from the hub that 1/8" I found that if I worked quickly, I didn't create a big mess, otherwise you will have to clean up the gear oil spilled on your wheel afterwords. If no gear oil drips out, I would be suspicious that your differential is low on gear oil and you should check it while you are down there. One of the outer bearings was shot on this truck due to oil starvation by the previous owner.


Good luck

T.

 

Good tip. I actually just got done adjusting mine about 2 hours ago. I keep this in the back of my head for next time.

 

That is the way I have been doing mine for years, except I leave the tires/wheels on.

It is very hard to get an accurate job when the axles are connected.

 

How can the wheel/brakes spin easier if you pull the axle shaft out 1/8"? I'm pretty sure you would have to pull it out at least 1.5" or else the splines will still be together. you could just jack up both sides of the axle and leave the trans in neutral...

 

Try it...



The bolts hold the axle to the hub, and with removal, the hub spins free of the axle. You don't even need to pull it out 1/8" but if you don't it scrapes the gasket material and could damage it preventing proper sealing when the bolts are reinstalled

 

You have bolts holding the axle to the hub? Mine is studded and the axle would have to be out at least as long as the studs to free the drum...Mark

 

Factory should have been bolts. Someone could have changed to studs at some point in time.

 

Looks pretty factory to me, is this not the correct axle?...Mark

 

Or someone just put studs in it to replace the bolts. Like I said.

 

I bought these drums new and they came studded...nobody else works on this truck...like I said is this not correct?...Mark

 

...

 

...

 

Well I must have better hand eye coordination than you, I've never damaged these factory studs...Anyone know about this?

 

See this info from the start is helpful. I had no idea you replaced anything. Did the old drums have bolts?

There is nothing wrong with studs in that application. Just another way to get to the end goal of holding the axle shaft to the hub.

 

...