So when Adjusting the rear drum brakes with the parking brake on a 1990 22re is it more effective to hold down the brake pedal while pulling up on the parking brake?
thanks in advance

 

it’s more effective to adjust the shoes by turning the star wheel at the wheel cylinders.

 

What wallytoo said!

Drive it a few miles, and then check for over heating. Easy to get them too tight.

 

Parking brake OFF
Adjust the brakes till the drum fits over the shoes with a tiny bit of drag.
then back them off just enough so the drag is gone and you can slip on the drum.
Test brakes and parking/ e brake
Adjust if needed.

 

what he said

 

Yeah!
What they said

Pat☺

 

The only problem I see with that is the lip that forms on the drum. It makes it near impossible to remove the drum unless you back off the star adjuster, so it also makes it impossible to just slip the drum on and have the brakes well adjusted.
It'll work every time with a new drum or one that has been resurfaced, or if the lip is ground off first.

 

I grind that wear lip out and bevel the drum edge with a 4" grinder. Takes about 2,9.

 

do you have any reference pics of the drum after?

 

Sorry, no images, but it's not rocket surgery.

I just attack the wear ridge with the grinding wheel at about 45 degrees to the plane of the drums wear surface
and have at the drum lightly until the ridge is no longer evident and there is a small bevel where the ridge once was.

 

Going back to the day, my first car had manual drums on all four wheels. I got good at adjusting them. Back off the star wheel to put the drum on. Tighten the star two or three clicks and give the drum a spin. Repeat until you get light drag on the drum, but enough to feel. Do the same on the other side. Check the parking brake operation. If it has too much travel, give the star wheels another couple of clicks. If the star wheel starts to bind up, back it off a couple of clicks. This is a little tighter than the other guys recommended, but it gives a better pedal feel and works fine.

 

Nearly forgot. Be sure to thoroughly clean off the rust and crap where the drum goes over the end of the axle on both surfaces. Then make sure the drum is totally seated and flush before starting to adjust the star wheels. Any debris trapped between the mating surfaces will throw off the adjustment process.

 

If you're adjusting the rear brakes because of the parking brake not holding well or the handle has to be pulled really far than you might try adjusting at the bellcrank where the front cable and the two rear cables meet. The FSM doesn't address this very well, but it'll make a huge difference

 

You have to adjust the rear drums FIRST !!!!!!
then address the parking brake.
If you don't it will keep the adjusters from working properly and in some cases it will cause the self adjuster to over-adjust and make the brake drag, burn up shoes and warp drums.
Ask me how I know...

 

Agreed that the shoes need to be done first.
But adjusting the shoes should be pretty quick and straightforward. Once that’s done you can check braking and parking brake performance. What often happened is the parking brake wouldn’t hold well, so the owner figured they did the shoe adjustment wrong, and keep going back and checking/readjusting. That’s when adjusting at the bellcrank helps considerably.