Adjusting Rear Disc Brakes on 2002
 

Hey All,

Newbie here. I looked around for this and found some threads addressing adjusting rear breaks. I have disc breaks on the rear and could not find the 'star' wheel others have referenced. I did find the slack adjuster off of the e-brake, but from what I understand this is not the proper way to adjust the rear brakes on my truck. It's an 02, 2500, 4x4. Any help??

Well, you should have rear discs. So, no adjustment necessary. Now, the parking brake uses a drum brake internal to the rotor hat and that can be adjusted.

Dave

Thanks. I guessing I need to take my rear discs back off.

Before you tear it apart, what are you trying to achieve or what is wrong??

Dave

e brake adjustment

inboard, look at the inside of the backing plates

you will find oblong rubber plugs recessed into the spider area.

Pull these plugs out, and adjust the e-brake shoes using the starwheels that you will see through those holes.

Or, plan B. remove the rotors, measure the inside of the e brake "drum. take that measurement minus .020". set the shoes to that spec, and re-install the rotors. That is the way that Ford used to do it on their diffs. It works, but rather time consuming.

Okay, I will check it out. I am assuming that by inboard, you mean looking from the differential towards the back of the rear tires (?). I looked for those damned plugs, and could not see them. Can you get to them there plugs with the wheels on? Or is the process easier if I just take them off first?

They aren't easy to get to, but it's a lot faster than pulling everything apart. Once you do them once it will only take 5 minutess the second time. Get a pair of needle nose to help pull the rubber plugs out of the hole.

Thanks for your help guys, I am on location pokin holes in the ground now but I will let you know how things turn out, and how many fingers I have left when I am done!!!

i gotta adjust my e brake too. lol no that i think about it

on my 01, the e brake worked for about 3 months, then, it didn't

Sooooo, when my rear linings finally separated from the steel plates, I had to change the brakes anyway. I also changed the seals at this point, and the e-brake shoes. Those stock ones were pretty skinny to say the least.

It wasn't difficult, just a pain in the butt. And yeah, you have to look for those plugs, they are recessed a bit.

You didn't happen to shoot a pic of those little Bast.... Buggers while you were down there did you??

Nah, I have never seen a (truck) rear end that was worth taking a picture of.

Like I say though, dive under there with a decent flashlight, and you will see what you are looking for, a long set of needlenose, with a 45 degree bent tip is handy to remove the plugs.

Eye Captain!!! I'm Goin' in

[QUOTE=Or, plan B. remove the rotors, measure the inside of the e brake "drum. take that measurement minus .020". set the shoes to that spec, and re-install the rotors. That is the way that Ford used to do it on their diffs. It works, but rather time consuming.[/QUOTE]

Okay, bad deal I think. Just dove under and discovered that the dealer (Christopher Dodge in Denver) who did my first brake job adjusted the cable tensioner all the way to the bottom. Sooooo do I have to back everything off, take off the rotors and measure everything up like you said above, or can I just back off the cable adjusters, adjust the e brake drum by feel and then adjust the cables to set the foot pedal?

Or should I just go ahead and get new shoes and forget the adjustment and start from scratch.

Waddaya think?