Self adjuster not working. Solution?

While throwing every part imaginable at my brakes to fix it pulling to the right, I have found out the passenger front self adjuster is not working. The actuating bar stays about 3/16 above the star wheel- I cannot get it to come any closer unless I shift the whole braking mecanism to the front, which reverts back as soon as I put the drum on.

If I just throw a spring kit on will it work, or is this a sign of another problem?

 

Joe,

The arm could have been bent during brake shoe replacement/adjustment. You might also check to see that the small spring just behind it is attached correctly....it may be holding the arm out away from the star wheel.

Reid

 

Sometimes the shoes aren't made right, you may have a shoe with the hole in the wrong spot. Also, don't become too sensitive to this problem.....these brakes are prone to pulling slightly and there's not much you can do about it.

One more thing, check your brake reaction rod bushings......if they are loose that will cause pulling while braking b/c the caster will change when you apply the brakes. :Smarty:

 

My late father was having fits with the adjusters and removed all of them
and went with a single spring across the adjuster
It works ok but once the wheels start to pull or the pedal gets lower you have to adjust all 4 wheels (the brakes are still good enough to throw me through the windshield if I hit them hard enough)
I dont like it but since I dont drive the freeways and only drive a few miles a day I have to live with it for now
This summer I am going to rebuild all 4 wheels and set every wheel back to factory and try the auto-adjuster again and see where my late father was having trouble.

 

Roger,

That is a pretty good layout for the process of elimination. That would let me know whether the problem was related to my self adjusters.

I tried to bend the adjustment actuating metal toward the adjuster more but it did not help. I am just going to get the whole brake setup off my parts car and put it on for the process of elimination. Might even change the front pads I never changed.

 

I've run across this problem too. I recently took the time to figure out what the problem was and thought I'd share my findings. My adjuster actuating link was too long. My theory of how it got bent/lengthened is this. Years ago when the car sat for an extended period either the actuator or the adjuster itself rusted to where it wouldn't move. Then when the actuator link was pulled, it could only bend(see pic 1). If the length of the rod is increased you end up with slack in the system.(see pic 2) When you have slack, the actuator doesn't move enough to contact and turn the adjuster. An 1/8 increase in the length of the rod is enough to cause the self adjuster to fail. It's easy to adjust the length of the rod by bending it at the offset in a vise. I found that mine work good at 4.625"(see pic 3). You don't want to take all the slack out either. Just leave enough so the mechanisn doesn't bind and the actuator just touches the adjuster(see pic 4). Yours may differ.

 

The pic above shows the bottom spring installed wrong and touching the adjuster. The spring needs to be rotated 180 degrees.