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Thread: rear brake adjusting

  1. #1
    Van Enthusiast joegri's Avatar
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    rear brake adjusting

    i am going to adjust my rear brakes today if it kills me.but my question is .... is there a special brake spoon required? seems to me the adjusting star is,nt right in the middle of the adj window and it makes it much harder to get the spoon to grab the star. atleast that is what happened on the right side. i,m gonna get the hub off and lube and get a good look after it cools off a lil bit. anybody else run into this situation? also i put new calipers on the front a couple of days ago and it seems that the right side grabs better than the left. ya think i should go back and rebleed the system just wondering. thanx for any and all replys.

  2. #2
    Administrator timsrv's Avatar
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    Re: rear brake adjusting

    The brakes are self adjusting. The rears adjust every time you set your emergency brake. If you don't ever use the e-brake, then you may need to do it manually...........otherwise, they should be fine. When you pull the e-brake handle, does it only lift a little before you feel tension or does it go all the way up? If it uses a lot of travel, then that's another indicator the rear brakes may need manual adjustment.

    As for the actual adjustment, it's been a while since I've done it, so I don't remember any particulars (like if the star wheel is off center or not). I don't recall any unusual difficulty nor do I remember needing to use a special spoon. I think you will be fine using a standard spoon. Good luck. Tim

    PS: Be careful with the lube........that's the one thing you never want on your brake shoes. If the adjusters are stiff, remove them, take apart, then put a little anti-seize compound on the threads and reassemble. If they don't come apart easy just toss them and replace with new ones. Tim

  3. #3
    Van Enthusiast joegri's Avatar
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    Re: rear brake adjusting

    just a quick up date. i was able to get a spoon to fit proerly and was able to adjust both rears. now the project van stops quite nicely ! also i swapped out an old rotted broken airtube that i had taped together and put in a nice 1 that i had pilphered ot of an other van. so as of tonite things are moving along nicely and next up is a new windshield. much more to do but i figure i have till the end of september to get this van shapped up.also as this build progresses i,d like to post but dont know where to? any ideas from you guys wil help.

  4. #4
    Administrator llamavan's Avatar
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    Re: rear brake adjusting

    Progress is sweet, eh?

    Quote Originally Posted by joegri View Post
    [...] also as this build progresses i,d like to post but dont know where to?
    If you're documenting your van's progress, your Van Blog is the perfect place — that's why everyone has one!

    Gwen
    1985 5-speed window cargo van set up for llama haulin'; 345K ("Trustyvan")
    1989 4WD 5-speed DLX; 410K and an odd sense of humor ("Skylervan")

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