Hey, I just finished installing new drums, shoes and hardware on the rear of my 84 Cutlass. Now for the problem, I have the adjuster backed all the way off and the shoes are still way to tight against the drum, they are constantly dragging. Even after only a mile or two down the road the drum is burning hot, you can actually smell burning. Now I can't even get the drum off. Any suggestions on what to do? should I just keep taking it on short drives and then letting it cool? I am stumped on this one.
make sure the parking brake isnt engaged on or maybe the brake cable stuck... oh...tap gently on them drums..big hammer whacks will crack em.... drums gotta come off no matter.....once off...make sure ya got correct shoes and make sure you have primary shoe (shorter pad material) is torward the front on each side.... btw...new drums?...make sure they correct size...might have 2 give em a light cut....
90% of the time when I find drums won't go on, it's a parking brake issue. Quite often I see over-adjusted parking brake cables, some people adjust the crap out of their parking brake when it doesn't work well and they never check the adjustment or condition of the rear brakes themselves. Back your parking brake adjuster down and see if you can get the drums on. Sticky cables are common, and they are fairly inexpensive if they need to be replaced. After de-adjusting the brake cables, pull on the cable from the brake side and see if it moves out, if it does replace the cables.
Well to show my lack of experiance here, how do you adjust the parking brake cable it's self? I always thought it was just the "self adjuster" and that was it.
to get some slack...follow the cable from the rear..closer near your transmission (i think ) you will see where it Y-shapes...there you will see a long threaded rod with a nut that yoiu can adjust...... btw...have you taken your drums off yet?? what point are you at..?
Try backing up, brake and chock your front wheels ..don't use the emer brake. That should loosen the grip your shoes have on the rear drums.
Well it took afew good taps with a hammer and some wood blocks and then me and my brother both pulling on the drum. Well it was my fault I put the "long" shoe on the front side of the drum. I got everything put back together and it's still pretty tight but not nearly as bad as before. I have only done the passenger side wheel so far, I didn't want to do the drivers side untill I get the first figured out. Tomorrow I will get the drivers side done. I also bought brand new front pads but I think I should wait and get some new rotors. Does anyone make better then stock rotors in a stock G body size? Also I think I remember someone posting that they were able to use a dual piston caliper off a 2001 S-10 4 wheel drive.
