Thread: Drum brake adjustment question.

I tighten until the wheel just locks making sure the cam is on a valley and not a peak.

I then back off just enough for the wheel to turn easily - again ensuring the cam is in the correct position.

If you have new shoes a further adjustment might be needed after they have bedded in.

Originally Posted by garrycol

I tighten until the wheel just locks making sure the cam is on a valley and not a peak.

I then back off just enough for the wheel to turn easily - again ensuring the cam is in the correct position.

If you have new shoes a further adjustment might be needed after they have bedded in.

He is absolutely right
as to the bleeding it is a sod in a 101.. (gawd I miss this truck every day here)

gut the pressure whatsit reducing repartioning thingy You will find it if you follow the pipes downhill,
the 5 exits "feature? i mean and please let me know

To make it really clear, get rid of anything inside. That is what we do here

Originally Posted by Anita

He is absolutely right
as to the bleeding it is a sod in a 101.. (gawd I miss this truck every day here)

gut the pressure whatsit reducing repartioning thingy You will find it if you follow the pipes downhill,
the 5 exits "feature? i mean and please let me know

To make it really clear, get rid of anything inside. That is what we do here

Bleeding it was easy and I've done it a few times now over the years, so no dramas there and there's no air in the system. I've always just gravity bled the brakes on my own - takes about an hour of sitting around watching the fluid drop in the reservoir. Never had an issue with this or any Series really Although I know plenty that have.

If the rear apportioning valve is working correctly it will be closed or almost closed with no load so when bleeding almost no fluid will come through to the rear.

The easy solution is to move the valve to the fully loaded position which means plenty of fluid gets to the rear making bleeding easy.

I have to bleed all my brakes by myself - from my RRS through the 101 to my Haflinger. A clear piece of plastic pipe into a clear plastic bottle with fluid in it - as long as the end of the pipe is in the fluid then the system is effectively sealed - I always refill with different coloured fluid so I can see when it is coming through.

So I just gently pump the brake pedal stopping occassionally to check the colour of the fluid coming through. When the fluid changes colour I then give one or two further pumps I check to see if there are any air bubbles in the clear pipe - if not I then let it gravity feed for a couple of minutes watching to see if any bubbles appear - if not all is done - if there bubbles then two more pumps and again watch the gravity feed etc.

Lots of fun - hmmm not.

Garry

Yeah, ithey question wasn't about bleeding them, I've done that. I've never found it difficult to be honest and I've had the entire brake system apart and back together front and back over the years and bled they entire system on 4 seperate occations - none ever presenting any issues.

I was more interested in people's opinions on the actual adjustment of the front with the new snails in is all. As I said in my original post, I've got a good brake pedal that causes the drums to heat up slightly or a slightly lower pedal - not near the floor though that keeps the drums cool.

Was after people's opinions on how warm the drums can run when brakes are not being used, not about the actual brake system of a 101 which I understand entirely and have rebuilt and modified for the better over the years.

Cheers.

G`day ,

i don`t expect any heat from non working brakes of any type .

I would set it at the lower pedal and give the brakes some use , let it cool go to the right pedal height and if it still heats pull it apart and see why .

When you say new brakes are the drums new , machined or as is ?

If your drums have high spots , you`ll get heat . If the drums are out of round so will the shoe contact be and heat can be a by product .

If you can get a good pedal , can`t be much wrong , if it`s only heat it may just need to bed in .

As with all these things if looking at it it`s easier to get an idea .

Your gravity bleed thing is a good idea , specially in an older system that it may be detrimental to put the master through its full movement .

Thanks. Drums are as is, but we're in good condition, but there exact roundness isn't a known. They've been pretty bad for about a year now, so having something that stops in a straight line again is a bit of a novelty.

I'll back them off one more click and take it for another run this week and see if I get used to them.

I used to have problems with a SIII front brakes, no matter what I did adjustment wise I just couldn't get it right, turned out the snails were worn in the backing plate, couldn't see this in situ.
Discovered it when I purchased a set of NOS backing plates at the 60th LR do at Cooma, replaced the old backing plates with new and problem solved, Regards Frank.