Self adjuster not...adjusting

[ghunt81]

Guys, forgive me if this is a dumb question. I put new shoes and hardware on my truck's rear drums last night, and this is the first time in years that I've messed with drum brakes.

I did the passenger side first and put the drum back on, then the driver's side. While doing the driver's side I realized I had hooked the adjuster spring into the wrong hole on the leading shoe on the passenger side, so I went back over and pulled the drum off, hooked up the adjuster spring, and put the drum back on (not sure if that's relevant or not)

At that point I had everything back together so I set the parking brake a couple times and I could hear the adjuster clicking on the driver's side and it was snug. Went over to the passenger side and the drum still just pulls off and the adjuster is turned all the way in.

I noticed that the parking brake is in fact working on that side, as if I set it the drum is tight. I went over and double checked everything, and put a little antisieze on both ends of the adjuster, and it still won't do anything. What's the problem here? I can't see anything obvious. I can get a picture later if it would matter.

 

[RonD]

Have you tried using the opening in the backing plate to move the star wheel manually.
It should only turn one way, making shoes tighter
And if shoes are loose it should be very easy to turn that one direction.
If it is hard to turn then it is of course binding up for some reason.

The adjuster bar touching the star wheel prevents star wheel from turning the other direction, so shoes can't get loose.
When removing older shoes you put a small screw driver into the hole in the backing plate to push adjuster bar away from star wheel and then you can move star wheel to loosen shoes allowing removal of drum.

Tightening E-brake cable causes adjuster bar to push down on star wheel which will turn it in the tightening direction if shoes need adjusting, if shoes are already tight then bar slips over wheel.
So if star wheel doesn't easily move because of binding or thread issues then it won't adjust tighter.

Star wheels are different for left and right drums, right and left hand threading

 

[ghunt81]

I haven't adjusted it manually, but I thought the whole point of the cable setup on the adjuster was to automatically adjust the brakes when you apply the parking brake.

Maybe there's too much slack in the cable?

I guess I'll have to manually adjust if nothing else.

 

[TxDarth]

I hope the adjuster works during other functions as well - I have never used an emergency/parking brake for the last 30 years. I had one freeze solid after applying and it delayed me for hours, haven't used one since. Either use Park or 1st/reverse on manuals and leave it at that.