E Brake loose after brake job

[dustxking]

Just got done doing rear shoes/drums/springs/retainers on my 96 t4r with 194k 4wd. Everything went very smoothly, but now my e brake is "sky high" and still rolls when in neutral.
After putting the shoes/drums back together fully, I went and pressed on the brake pedal a few good times to make sure everything was set in place. Went on a drive just to make sure everything went okay. Got home and tried to set the e brake and it went all the way to the top setting click and still rolls while parked on my drive way. I did give it a few good up and down pulls to full click.

Did I miss something? Do I need to tighten the e brake handle adjustment?

 

[theesotericone]

Did you adjust the brakes?

 

[NODNARB01]

Yeah, you need to adjust the brakes out with the little spinny star thingy. Trust me I'm an expert.


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[dustxking]

Yes I did adjust the brakes throgh the back side of the hub. I thought I had mentioned that in the first post.
I adjusted them after pressing the brake pedal a few times. Got them adjusted to just when I start to hear the shoes and drums touch when spinning the tires.

 

[Tyler James Inc]

I think they need to be adjusted further.

 

[TheDurk]

Well, the right way is to use the "star spinner thingy" aka adjusting wheel to get the adjustment close, and then use the E-brake repetitively (no need to drive in reverse, just pump the thing) to get it to where it should be. Obviously, that ain't happening if the handle is pulling on thin air. You may have left the cable disengaged or mis-routed the little cable inside one of the drums. The loop may have slipped off the hook on the bellcrank. Something ain't right. You need to engage the e-brake as much as you can, and then get under there and see where the lack of tension comes from, and track it down.

 

[kolelt]

When I adjusted mine. I made it so it was hard to spin them by hand. Then when driving it. It wore the pad perfect distance. And the ebrake was good. You might also need to adjust your cable ? There's a adjuster on the ebrake handle

 

[stever1000]

I jacked my rear end up last night and spun the tire last night to check my brake shoe adjustment. When I rotated the wheel one full rotation, it sounded like the drum rubbed only at one position throughout the whole rotation. i.e. if the rubbing happened at 3'oclock, I could only hear it rub at that position then it was quiet for the rest of the rotation.
Is this normal? I have not worked on drum brakes in about 10 years...

 

[nissanh]

^^^ Normal.
Like "The Durk" said, the final adjustment comes with repeated application of the E-brake.
In everyday use, it is a good habit to apply park brake (E-brake) before you shift the shift lever to P.

 

[stever1000]

^^^ Normal.
Like "The Durk" said, the final adjustment comes with repeated application of the E-brake.
It is a good habit to apply park brake (E-brake) before you shift the shift lever to P.

I pulled it several times last night (>50) and I don't know how much the e-brake was used by the previous owner, so I'm likely a long way from adjustment

 

[nevada]

it sounds like maybe the cable got disconnected somehow. perhaps at the bell crank, as was mentioned earlier. probably a good idea to pull the drums, and verify everything is in place.

as to the adjustment, its much better to manually adjust them. relying on the park brake to do it could make you crazy, it may work, but take many hundred pulls, or it may never do nothing. which is most likely.

using the manual adjuster, adjust them up tight, so you cannot turn the drum by hand. them back them off slowly, 1-2 clicks at a time, until you can turn the drum, with just the slightest drag. this can be a bit tricky, as you have to reach inside the adjuster hole with a small pick or screwdriver, to release the ratchet, that will allow you to turn the adjuster IN, and loosen the shoes.

pump the pedal a few times to center the shoes, then double check your adjustment. repeat as necessary.

 

[phattyduck]

In the process of getting my ebrake working well, I also had to slightly tighten the adjustment at the ebrake lever. This removed the slack in the cable from years of use so the bell cranks start working immediately with ebrake lever movement. I suppose this can be done at the bell-crank too, maybe?

That got me that last 2 clicks or so on the ebrake that I couldn't get by adjusting the star wheel. Before that adjustment, there was some free movement at the ebrake lever before anything happened at the rear drums.

Oh, and it might take hundreds of lever actuations to get you where you want/need to be if you don't do the majority of the adjustment manually first.

-Charlie

 

[19963.4lsr5]

In the process of getting my ebrake working well, I also had to slightly tighten the adjustment at the ebrake lever. This removed the slack in the cable from years of use so the bell cranks start working immediately with ebrake lever movement. I suppose this can be done at the bell-crank too, maybe?



That got me that last 2 clicks or so on the ebrake that I couldn't get by adjusting the star wheel. Before that adjustment, there was some free movement at the ebrake lever before anything happened at the rear drums.



Oh, and it might take hundreds of lever actuations to get you where you want/need to be if you don't do the majority of the adjustment manually first.



-Charlie

There is a procedure to take up the slack in the ebrake arm on each rear wheel. Maybe someone can post the PDF from the FSM.


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[19963.4lsr5]

here is a image of the end result. That gap I'm pretty sure is .030 inch.


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[dustxking]

Thanks everyone I will jack it up and see if they need readjusting.

 

[19963.4lsr5]

To do the gap check you pull off the boot and spring and then pull back on the arm to take up any free play. Then adjust the bolt for that gap while pulling back. After driving mine for a week and backing into my parking spot plus using the ebrake I noticed a increase in pedal firmness as well as the brakes felt more aggressive. Nothing like the tundra setup on the 97 Limited though.


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