About to call Bravo Sierra

[NEexpat]

Has anyone here had any luck adjusting their Hand/E brake by driving in reverse and braking, or hard braking?

I have tried this a couple times, no difference, at least none that I have noticed. On a Toyota forum they say you really have to slam on the brakes to get them to self adjust.

[fnkngrv]

never heard of this

[bronsin]

As a former car mechanic I saw a lot of self adjusting brakes that didnt work as advertised.

[2005rs]

The adjusters in the rear drums adjust shoe clearance, not ebrake cable tension

[bronsin]

The adjusters in the rear drums adjust shoe clearance, not ebrake cable tension

Right.

But my point was you REALLY want to hand adjust your rear brakes at the wheel or a least check them once a year or so.

[nookandcrannycar]

Right.

But my point was you REALLY want to hand adjust your rear brakes at the wheel or a least check them once a year or so.

:thumbsup: I imagine this is why (when I took my car in last year re the noise the brakes were making) they cleaned out all the brake dust AND adjusted the cable (tight enough to pull past no more than one click when the car was ready). Thirty some odd dollars total for both.

[Yarflana]

I wouldn't mess with the ole' "back up my Y and adjust the e-brake"...just isn't the same, if it does anything at all.

I will tell you that I adjusted my e-brake at the drums and got that bugger snug down to 1 click.

Just use the M8x1.25 two inch bolt in both holes after removing the wheels to break the drum loose (you can put WD40 on the bolts to ensure you don't get excess in the drum area).

Then just use a small screwdriver to move the adjuster up (put the screwdriver against the hub and push it down to move the adjuster up about 2-3 clicks at a time, then put test the fit by putting the drum back on just enough to see if it clears the shoes.

When it gets to where putting the drum on rubs the shoes, you are done and can reassemble. I assume you know how to put on and take off the wheels. Also, this makes a good time to go ahead and rotate your tires, if you like while you have the jack and stands out.

I didn't clean out the area or anything and mine had 100k miles on them. I will do all that when I replace the drums and shoes later next month.

That is really it and thanks to a DIY posted on this forum a while back.

[frog13]

Let the car roll down a slight decline and depress the brake pedal quite hard....do this a couple of times....that is how it is "suppose" to assist adjusting the rear drum brakes.As the folks said above,it is much better to adjust with the drum off. Don't forget the e-brake handle has an adjustment also....you have to remove the plastic around the lever to gain access to the nut.