Hey, I thoughts these were suppose to be self adjusting brakes on our trucks? I just did the rear drums about six months ago, all new parts including hubs (don't ask ) neglect will make you do stupid things! Anyway, I noticed the other day that I sure have been standing on the break peddle hard lately and I think I smell the front disc over heating.

I decided to drive in reverse and hit the brakes a few times but no avail. I finally jacked up the back end and manually adjusted the driver side first and I must have spun that dial 5 times around before I heard the shoes scraping the hub. The passenger side on one full revolution (5 full strokes on the starwheel) and it started touching too. The difference was amazing. I had to learn to brake all over again.

Is this the way it is with self adjusting brakes? Man do they suck.

brad

 

Sometimes they work sometimes they don't. It's a good idea to change the self adjusters when you're in there. The older they get the less they work like they're supposed to. I cleaned mine up and put some lub on the threads and they work pretty good. ( knocks on wood)

 

I think most of us just hand adjust them every oil change. A few clicks and you are good to go for another 3 months. Your E b rake shgould ahve told you there was a problem also. It should start braking within an inch or two of the top of the peddle travel.

If you really want good braking replace the stock slave cylinders with 1 ton GM's. Just hold on to your coffee.

 

Better yet, get rid of those lousy drums and convert to rear disk. You'll never need to adjust them again.

 

Every time I was inside my rear brakes, I noticed that the self adjusters were OFF of their position. I ended up finally just cutting that cable as it never did work for mine.

 

What year truck would i get disc brakes from that will go under a w350?

 

One thing is if the shoes weren't close enough to touch the drums when you 1st put them in then they would not adjust , the next is the self adjusters work while backing up and taping the peddle , then a nother is its easy to put the adjuster on backwards.

 

I put in all new hardware when I was in my rear brakes this summer and the self-adjusters seem to be working - for now.

To expand on what John said: the FSM says that the self adjusters will work IF you hit the brakes in reverse, come to a complete stop, then drive forward a couple feet.

 

These are called "self adjusting" because if you want them adjusted, you have to crawl under the truck and adjust them yourself.

 

I had a problem with my right rear wheel over tightening itself after a short drive, to the point that I couldn't push it(the truck) back and forth in the garage. I removed the cable portion and haven't had that problem since, just have to adjust it myself.

 

Sounds like the adjusters got swapped side-to-side....

No matter how hard I try, I can't get mine to "self-adjust" - but it does get lots of strange looks when I drive 40 MPH in reverse and slam on the brakes. I normally adjust mine when I change the oil or before I do any heavy towing.