SO I did new rear drum brakes on my 99 suburban.
My question is simple...how do i adjust them?

Old school way was to back up several times and they adjusted, does that still apply or do they adjust under normal driving?

Sorry I saw i put this in the wrong section but cannot figure out how to move it

 

which style do you have?


-servo style drum brakes adjust with change of direction..forward then backwards


-non-servo drum brakes adjust when the e-brake is applied.


imo this adjustment is just to compensate for wear. It will take a long time to adjust this way for initial set up.


I do a rough adjustment by manually turning the star wheel. I then slip on the drum. with both drums on, start the truck and apply the brakes. this centers the shoes with the drum. I then remove the drum and do another manual adjustment. With it set up properly the ebrake should be tight at 5-6 clicks and the service brake pedal should not be deep when applied.


Some people adjust manually through the adjustment hole in the back of the drum, with the drum on. Adjust until the star wheel get tight and the drum drags tight, release the adjuster lever, then back it off to a slight drag.

 

I always thought one of the really nice things about drum brakes was that they didn't drag, so they stayed a bit cooler than disks under mild use?

 

we're talking about the initial set-up. if they are set up with no initial drag the service brake will have a deep pedal and the ebrake won't hold the car.

 

I am not sure about the servo-non servo style...it has some linkage that the Ebrake hooks to and that has the arm that seems to adjust the star wheel.
It now makes sense that the Ebrake would be the adjuster.
Seems stupid though as most people do not use there Ebrake.


Would it be worth me taking the wheels & drums back off and adjusting them close manually or will they adjust quick enough & equally by just working the Ebrake a dozen times in the driveway ?


Thanks for the info. I will be checking out where the parking brake pedal falls. I know they are nowhere near adjusted as I figured let them adjust normally...I didn't know what chevy considered normal though ! lol