Just replaced the rear brake shoes with the result of vibration at 50 to 60
mph which was unrelated to braking or the transmission where I'd like to
learn from your experience what happened.

Balance: http://i.cubeupload.com/nejkmM.jpg
Backoff: http://i.cubeupload.com/k0rDm2.jpg
Adjust: http://i.cubeupload.com/I3FpwG.jpg
Assemble: http://i.cubeupload.com/nQ17UA.jpg
Gray Paste: http://i.cubeupload.com/TkVVqJ.jpg
===========================================
1. Replaced just the brake shoes and tested at 50 to 60 mph where
noticeable vibration occurred that wasn't there before the brake job.

2. This noticeable vibration was unrelated to braking events or to coasting
downhill in neutral and was unrelated to road conditions.

3. All four wheels were previously balanced and originally put back in
their original position after the initial repair as were the drums.

4. All six lug nuts on each wheel were torqued to 84 foot pounds using the
classic star pattern. A thin coating of old (partially congealed)
never-seize was applied to the rear hub to drum mating surface.

5. The main deviation from factory protocol was the common practice of
adjusting the star wheel to the shortest position so that the drums go on
easily and then lifting up on the emergency brake handle about a hundred
times to adjust the parking brake to 7 clicks.

6. After an 18-mile test-drive loop, start to finish, to get to the highway
and then to the first exit and back where half was highway and half were
local roads, both drums "sizzled" a wet fingertip, perhaps the driver side
drum more so than the passenger side drum.

7. The brake shoes had a gray pasty appearance, almost of leaking oil but
no oil leaked on the brake shoes.
===========================================
A. I rotated the tires front to back but they were balanced before so I
don't see how that mattered afterward.

B. I very carefully torqued the six nuts on each wheel to 84 foot pounds,
in a star pattern, with plenty of banging on the wheel assembly to jostle
the seating position, although they were previously torqued to 84 foot
pounds so I don't see how that mattered afterward.

C. I visually inspected the u-joints, wiggling them by hand, but I did not
feel more than about a half millimeter or so of movement, but I don't know
how much they're supposed to move - but they didn't change anyway.

D. I visually inspected the front and rear brakes, where no visual anomaly
was seen, and wiped some of the never seize off, but it was a very thin
layer anyway.

E. The only procedure I did very differently was that I explicitly followed
the factory protocol for adjusting the brake shoes just prior to the drum
replacement which was to mic the drum and mic the shoes and set the star
adjustment to 1/2 mm (20 thousandths of an inch) smaller than the drum
diameter.

F. I also left the parking brake adjustment loose at about 8 or 9 clicks
instead of the 7 clicks (it still held the car on a hill but not as firm as
did the first adjustment if the car was previously moving).
===========================================
The procedure above "solved" the vibration problem.

The job is done but I would like to learn more about changing brake shoes.
Do you have any idea what specifically had caused the vibration?

On Monday, February 12, 2018 at 2:22:16 PM UTC-5, ultred ragnusen wrote:
Just replaced the rear brake shoes with the result of vibration at 50 to 60
mph which was unrelated to braking or the transmission where I'd like to
learn from your experience what happened.

Balance: http://i.cubeupload.com/nejkmM.jpg
Backoff: http://i.cubeupload.com/k0rDm2.jpg
Adjust: http://i.cubeupload.com/I3FpwG.jpg
Assemble: http://i.cubeupload.com/nQ17UA.jpg
Gray Paste: http://i.cubeupload.com/TkVVqJ.jpg
===========================================
1. Replaced just the brake shoes and tested at 50 to 60 mph where
noticeable vibration occurred that wasn't there before the brake job.

2. This noticeable vibration was unrelated to braking events or to coasting
downhill in neutral and was unrelated to road conditions.

3. All four wheels were previously balanced and originally put back in
their original position after the initial repair as were the drums.

4. All six lug nuts on each wheel were torqued to 84 foot pounds using the
classic star pattern. A thin coating of old (partially congealed)
never-seize was applied to the rear hub to drum mating surface.

5. The main deviation from factory protocol was the common practice of
adjusting the star wheel to the shortest position so that the drums go on
easily and then lifting up on the emergency brake handle about a hundred
times to adjust the parking brake to 7 clicks.

6. After an 18-mile test-drive loop, start to finish, to get to the highway
and then to the first exit and back where half was highway and half were
local roads, both drums "sizzled" a wet fingertip, perhaps the driver side
drum more so than the passenger side drum.

7. The brake shoes had a gray pasty appearance, almost of leaking oil but
no oil leaked on the brake shoes.
===========================================
A. I rotated the tires front to back but they were balanced before so I
don't see how that mattered afterward.

B. I very carefully torqued the six nuts on each wheel to 84 foot pounds,
in a star pattern, with plenty of banging on the wheel assembly to jostle
the seating position, although they were previously torqued to 84 foot
pounds so I don't see how that mattered afterward.

C. I visually inspected the u-joints, wiggling them by hand, but I did not
feel more than about a half millimeter or so of movement, but I don't know
how much they're supposed to move - but they didn't change anyway.

D. I visually inspected the front and rear brakes, where no visual anomaly
was seen, and wiped some of the never seize off, but it was a very thin
layer anyway.

E. The only procedure I did very differently was that I explicitly followed
the factory protocol for adjusting the brake shoes just prior to the drum
replacement which was to mic the drum and mic the shoes and set the star
adjustment to 1/2 mm (20 thousandths of an inch) smaller than the drum
diameter.

F. I also left the parking brake adjustment loose at about 8 or 9 clicks
instead of the 7 clicks (it still held the car on a hill but not as firm as
did the first adjustment if the car was previously moving).
===========================================
The procedure above "solved" the vibration problem.

The job is done but I would like to learn more about changing brake shoes.
Do you have any idea what specifically had caused the vibration?

I had my Mercedes in years ago for some work, I think it was brake work,
but in the process they removed the wheels and put them back on. Driving
home I had vibration at 60, where before it was perfectly fine. I took
it back, they gave me the usual song and dance, nothing they did could
have caused it, they don't move the wheels around, vibration could be
from a driveshaft problem, etc. I took the car home, jacked it up,
moved the tires from front to back, and Voila!, problem solved.

I don't think they were necessarily lying. For example, when taking
the wheels off, no reason to move them around, more logical to just
keep them where they are. But clearly the problem was not there before,
was there after taking the wheels off and putting them back on, and
was resolved by moving them from front to back. It's easy to try.

wrote:

I had my Mercedes in years ago for some work, I think it was brake work,
but in the process they removed the wheels and put them back on. Driving
home I had vibration at 60, where before it was perfectly fine. I took
it back, they gave me the usual song and dance, nothing they did could
have caused it, they don't move the wheels around, vibration could be
from a driveshaft problem, etc. I took the car home, jacked it up,
moved the tires from front to back, and Voila!, problem solved.

That was similar to my experience!

I think it was either the tires moving from front to back, or, the shoes
adjusted too tightly by the parking brake (can that even happen?) or maybe
too much paste on the hub (but there wasn't all that much and I left most
of it anyway) or the torquing of the lug nuts (although I torqued them both
times - only I was more careful the second time).

A quick test would be to switch the tires back and see if the vibration
returns.

I don't think they were necessarily lying. For example, when taking
the wheels off, no reason to move them around, more logical to just
keep them where they are. But clearly the problem was not there before,
was there after taking the wheels off and putting them back on, and
was resolved by moving them from front to back. It's easy to try.

Yup. It could be the tires being unbalanced, but I checked each one for
static balance and they were dead on since I balanced them myself about a
year ago and there was no vibration until now.

I've been rotating them every 4K miles and there wasn't any vibration then
either.

The one thing that is very different is that the 18 mile test loop didn't
heat up the drums too hot to touch when I did the job the second time,
whereas the drums sizzled a wet finger on the vibration run.

wrote:

I've been rotating them every 4K miles and there wasn't any vibration then
either.

I mark the inside sidewall with the rotations, where each tire has had
three rotations without any imbalance issue.

This tire, for example, went from Right Front to Left Rear to Left Front
(and is now on the Left Rear).
http://i.cubeupload.com/kfKDBE.jpg

I did inspect each tire for missing wheel weights but there were no missing
weights, and I doubt cleaning out the pebbles which is standard before
static balancing, made any difference.
http://i.cubeupload.com/d89IF2.jpg

On Mon, 12 Feb 2018 11:22:10 -0800, ultred ragnusen
wrote:

Just replaced the rear brake shoes with the result of vibration at 50 to 60
mph which was unrelated to braking or the transmission where I'd like to
learn from your experience what happened.

Balance: http://i.cubeupload.com/nejkmM.jpg
Backoff: http://i.cubeupload.com/k0rDm2.jpg
Adjust: http://i.cubeupload.com/I3FpwG.jpg
Assemble: http://i.cubeupload.com/nQ17UA.jpg
Gray Paste: http://i.cubeupload.com/TkVVqJ.jpg
===========================================
1. Replaced just the brake shoes and tested at 50 to 60 mph where
noticeable vibration occurred that wasn't there before the brake job.

2. This noticeable vibration was unrelated to braking events or to coasting
downhill in neutral and was unrelated to road conditions.

3. All four wheels were previously balanced and originally put back in
their original position after the initial repair as were the drums.

4. All six lug nuts on each wheel were torqued to 84 foot pounds using the
classic star pattern. A thin coating of old (partially congealed)
never-seize was applied to the rear hub to drum mating surface.

5. The main deviation from factory protocol was the common practice of
adjusting the star wheel to the shortest position so that the drums go on
easily and then lifting up on the emergency brake handle about a hundred
times to adjust the parking brake to 7 clicks.

6. After an 18-mile test-drive loop, start to finish, to get to the highway
and then to the first exit and back where half was highway and half were
local roads, both drums "sizzled" a wet fingertip, perhaps the driver side
drum more so than the passenger side drum.

7. The brake shoes had a gray pasty appearance, almost of leaking oil but
no oil leaked on the brake shoes.
===========================================
A. I rotated the tires front to back but they were balanced before so I
don't see how that mattered afterward.

B. I very carefully torqued the six nuts on each wheel to 84 foot pounds,
in a star pattern, with plenty of banging on the wheel assembly to jostle
the seating position, although they were previously torqued to 84 foot
pounds so I don't see how that mattered afterward.

C. I visually inspected the u-joints, wiggling them by hand, but I did not
feel more than about a half millimeter or so of movement, but I don't know
how much they're supposed to move - but they didn't change anyway.

D. I visually inspected the front and rear brakes, where no visual anomaly
was seen, and wiped some of the never seize off, but it was a very thin
layer anyway.

E. The only procedure I did very differently was that I explicitly followed
the factory protocol for adjusting the brake shoes just prior to the drum
replacement which was to mic the drum and mic the shoes and set the star
adjustment to 1/2 mm (20 thousandths of an inch) smaller than the drum
diameter.

F. I also left the parking brake adjustment loose at about 8 or 9 clicks
instead of the 7 clicks (it still held the car on a hill but not as firm as
did the first adjustment if the car was previously moving).
===========================================
The procedure above "solved" the vibration problem.

The job is done but I would like to learn more about changing brake shoes.
Do you have any idea what specifically had caused the vibration?



Sure sounds like the rear shoes were not adjusted properly and the
emergency brake was partly applied tp position the shoes which were
allowed to "float", spontaniously and intermittently applying
themselves.

When you properly adjusted the brake shoes they were properly
positioned in the drum and did not "float", and therefore did not
apply themselves.

You guys that insist on doing brake work on your cars without having
a clue what you are doing SCARE me.

One of these days something SERIOUS will happen and someone will be
killed, or worse yet, maimed for life.

ultred ragnusen wrote:
Just replaced the rear brake shoes with the result of vibration at 50 to 60
mph which was unrelated to braking or the transmission where I'd like to
learn from your experience what happened.

Out of round drums and shoes were too tight.
Or, shoes were too tight and grabbing.

On Mon, 12 Feb 2018 16:22:38 -0600, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

ultred ragnusen wrote:
Just replaced the rear brake shoes with the result of vibration at 50 to 60
mph which was unrelated to braking or the transmission where I'd like to
learn from your experience what happened.

Out of round drums and shoes were too tight.
Or, shoes were too tight and grabbing.
No, the shoes were too loose and the cables were too tight

Clare Snyder wrote:
On Mon, 12 Feb 2018 16:22:38 -0600, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

ultred ragnusen wrote:
Just replaced the rear brake shoes with the result of vibration at 50 to 60
mph which was unrelated to braking or the transmission where I'd like to
learn from your experience what happened.

Out of round drums and shoes were too tight.
Or, shoes were too tight and grabbing.
No, the shoes were too loose and the cables were too tight

Ah! Immediately understood. Thanks for the insight.

Clare Snyder wrote:

Out of round drums and shoes were too tight.
Or, shoes were too tight and grabbing.
No, the shoes were too loose and the cables were too tight

I want to learn so I appreciate the responses, where I realize you can only
know what I thought to tell you, so it's hard to diagnose from afar.

After reflecting on Clare's answer, I think what he suggested is probably
what happened as what he suggested "fits" the picture, although I'd like to
understand better what he meant when he said
"the shoes which were allowed to "float", spontaneously and
intermittently applying themselves."

The evidence does seem to back up what Clare said, in that the drums were
sizzling, and that the vibration was a "grabbing" type and not a
"side-to-side wobble" like most tire shimmys are. So it was a weird
different type of vibration that must have been occurring at slow speeds as
well as fast speeds.

- But why would it only shudder at the fast speed?
=====
I agree that it's very possible that Clare is correct when he said "the
rear shoes were not adjusted properly", because when I used the factory
adjustment procedure of 1/2 mm between the drum and shoes and then
adjusting the parking brake by pulling up on it a few times, the vibration
went away.

- But why didn't the procedure of putting the shoes on loosely and then
adjusting the shoes via the parking brake work?
=====
In the end, what Clare said seems to fit when he said:
"When you properly adjusted the brake shoes they were properly
positioned in the drum and did not "float", and therefore did
not apply themselves."

- This fits that
a. the drums were sizzling before and just warm now
b. the vibration had an odd feel to it (but why only at speed?)
c. original adjust was by pulling the parking brake a hundred times
d. the gray paste on the shoes might have been drum metal flakes
=====
I have to agree that I misunderstood how drum brakes work in that I thought
the parking brake adjustment adjusted the brake shoes themselves, so I
would just like to learn more about what Clare said when he said
"the shoes were too loose and the cables were too tight"

- Was the vibration likely due to the specific combination of loose shoes
and tight parking brake, or just to the fact that the shoes were too loose?

On Mon, 12 Feb 2018 21:33:53 -0800, ultred ragnusen
wrote:

Clare Snyder wrote:

Out of round drums and shoes were too tight.
Or, shoes were too tight and grabbing.
No, the shoes were too loose and the cables were too tight

I want to learn so I appreciate the responses, where I realize you can only
know what I thought to tell you, so it's hard to diagnose from afar.

After reflecting on Clare's answer, I think what he suggested is probably
what happened as what he suggested "fits" the picture, although I'd like to
understand better what he meant when he said
"the shoes which were allowed to "float", spontaneously and
intermittently applying themselves."

The evidence does seem to back up what Clare said, in that the drums were
sizzling, and that the vibration was a "grabbing" type and not a
"side-to-side wobble" like most tire shimmys are. So it was a weird
different type of vibration that must have been occurring at slow speeds as
well as fast speeds.

- But why would it only shudder at the fast speed?
=====
I agree that it's very possible that Clare is correct when he said "the
rear shoes were not adjusted properly", because when I used the factory
adjustment procedure of 1/2 mm between the drum and shoes and then
adjusting the parking brake by pulling up on it a few times, the vibration
went away.

- But why didn't the procedure of putting the shoes on loosely and then
adjusting the shoes via the parking brake work?
=====
In the end, what Clare said seems to fit when he said:
"When you properly adjusted the brake shoes they were properly
positioned in the drum and did not "float", and therefore did
not apply themselves."

- This fits that
a. the drums were sizzling before and just warm now
b. the vibration had an odd feel to it (but why only at speed?)
c. original adjust was by pulling the parking brake a hundred times
d. the gray paste on the shoes might have been drum metal flakes
=====
I have to agree that I misunderstood how drum brakes work in that I thought
the parking brake adjustment adjusted the brake shoes themselves, so I
would just like to learn more about what Clare said when he said
"the shoes were too loose and the cables were too tight"

- Was the vibration likely due to the specific combination of loose shoes
and tight parking brake, or just to the fact that the shoes were too loose?


If the shoes are not adjusted properly and the hand brake cable pulls
the shoes out to where they belong (giving a decent pedal) the shoes
are not on their anchors (depends on the type of brake) and any
suspension movement CAN tighten the cable, initiating a brake
application. Also, on a "servo" type, or "self energizing" brake, if
the leeding shoe "drifts" and contacts the drum, it "wedges" and
aplies the trailing shoe as well. If it's not on the anchors, it Will
drift.
There MAY have been some low speed action, but the servo action would
not be as strong at lower speeds so it may have been virtually
un-noticeable

What vehicle are we talking about here?

Clare Snyder wrote:

If the shoes are not adjusted properly and the hand brake cable pulls
the shoes out to where they belong (giving a decent pedal) the shoes
are not on their anchors (depends on the type of brake) and any
suspension movement CAN tighten the cable, initiating a brake
application.

That must be it.

Once the leading shoe touched the drum, the trailing shoe must have been
forced to follow, causing the grabbing.

It must have been happening all the time, but only noticeable at speed.

Thanks for explaining.

My big mistake was in thinking the parking brake adjusted the "final"
position of the shoes.

On Mon, 12 Feb 2018 22:12:43 -0800, ultred ragnusen
wrote:

Clare Snyder wrote:

If the shoes are not adjusted properly and the hand brake cable pulls
the shoes out to where they belong (giving a decent pedal) the shoes
are not on their anchors (depends on the type of brake) and any
suspension movement CAN tighten the cable, initiating a brake
application.

That must be it.

Once the leading shoe touched the drum, the trailing shoe must have been
forced to follow, causing the grabbing.

It must have been happening all the time, but only noticeable at speed.

Thanks for explaining.

My big mistake was in thinking the parking brake adjusted the "final"
position of the shoes.
On some it does - but then you need to manually adjust the handbrake
(e-brake) linkage AFTER the shoes have adjusted - and this
meansbacking off the e-brake adjustment first.

Youstill have not said what vehicle this is - and sincethere areSO
MANY differentsetups for brakes, this is important information.

wrote:

On some it does - but then you need to manually adjust the handbrake
(e-brake) linkage AFTER the shoes have adjusted - and this
meansbacking off the e-brake adjustment first.

Thank you for helping me understand what went wrong where I realize it's
hard for you to help given the little information I know about it.

On this vehicle, braking in referse does not adjust the rear brakes.
The continual adjustment of the rear brakes is only by the parking brake.

Youstill have not said what vehicle this is - and sincethere areSO
MANY differentsetups for brakes, this is important information.

It's a 2002 Toyota Tacoma.

Mainly I ass-u-med that the parking brake would adjust the brake shoes,
since that's what it does every day.

What I mostly want to understand is WHY the parking brake adjustment didn't
work.

My main assumption was that the parking brake adjustment is the same as the
manual star adjustment.

If that's correct, then I don't see how the parking brake adjustment is any
different than twisting the star adjuster, but it apparently is (somehow).

That's my main confusion which I hope someone can help me better
understand.

On Tue, 13 Feb 2018 11:12:46 -0800, ultred ragnusen
wrote:

wrote:

On some it does - but then you need to manually adjust the handbrake
(e-brake) linkage AFTER the shoes have adjusted - and this
meansbacking off the e-brake adjustment first.

Thank you for helping me understand what went wrong where I realize it's
hard for you to help given the little information I know about it.

On this vehicle, braking in referse does not adjust the rear brakes.
The continual adjustment of the rear brakes is only by the parking brake.

Youstill have not said what vehicle this is - and sincethere areSO
MANY differentsetups for brakes, this is important information.

It's a 2002 Toyota Tacoma.

Look at http://www.tacomahq.com/wp-content/u...drum_brake.gif

Note ther pin at the top. If the adjuster at the bottomis not
adjusted long enough and the handbrake cable is too tight, the cable
will hold the shoes out close tothe drum, giving a good pedal but the
ends of the shoes are not in contact with the pin. One might br, or
the other, but not both.

When the adjuster is properly adjusted and the cable is NOT too tight,
both ends are against the pin untill the cyl expands, causing the
leading shoe to contact the drum, and the friction of the liniung
against the drum caused the shoe to rotate with the drum, carrying
through the adjuster, and firmly wedging the rear shoe into the drum.

Mainly I ass-u-med that the parking brake would adjust the brake shoes,
since that's what it does every day.


If the cable is too short it cannot adjust the shoes out far enough
because the cable "false adjusts" the shoes.
What I mostly want to understand is WHY the parking brake adjustment didn't
work.

The cable was too tight

My main assumption was that the parking brake adjustment is the same as the
manual star adjustment.

It is

If that's correct, then I don't see how the parking brake adjustment is any
different than twisting the star adjuster, but it apparently is (somehow).

The cable was too tight

That's my main confusion which I hope someone can help me better
understand.


I hope this helps

And the automatic adkusters on a Taco are actuated by firmly applying
the brakes in reverse. With the ebrake cables loose.

wrote:

The cable was too tight

That's basically the net effect.
Thanks.

It's a lesson well learned to follow the factory procedure.

I don't know how people do this job without the large calipers though.

On Tue, 13 Feb 2018 20:31:06 -0800, ultred ragnusen
wrote:

wrote:

The cable was too tight

That's basically the net effect.
Thanks.

It's a lesson well learned to follow the factory procedure.

I don't know how people do this job without the large calipers though.
For years I've done it by trial and error - adjust the shoes to what
I think is right, then dry-fit the drum - too loose, pull it off and
adjust up. Don't fit? back it off and try again. Usually only a few
minutes. Then fine adjust with the brake spoon. ALWAYS check the
ebrake cables - and REPLACE if they are sticky - or you'll just end up
doing the job again. Also make sure you have the wheel brake
adjustment right BEFORE applying the e-brake -particularly if there is
any chance it has a self adjusting e-brake linkage. Do it on a Ford
Aerostar and you'll find out why REAL fast!! You'll spend half an hour
backing off the cable adjuster - - - -

wrote:

For years I've done it by trial and error - adjust the shoes to what
I think is right, then dry-fit the drum - too loose, pull it off and
adjust up. Don't fit? back it off and try again. Usually only a few
minutes. Then fine adjust with the brake spoon. ALWAYS check the
ebrake cables - and REPLACE if they are sticky - or you'll just end up
doing the job again. Also make sure you have the wheel brake
adjustment right BEFORE applying the e-brake -particularly if there is
any chance it has a self adjusting e-brake linkage. Do it on a Ford
Aerostar and you'll find out why REAL fast!! You'll spend half an hour
backing off the cable adjuster - - - -

I am very glad you explained the error which I agree with you that it was a
big make for me to ass-u-me that since the daily automatic adjustment keeps
the shoes adjusted, that a manual adjustment would do the same.

I also agree with you that there seem to be three major methods of
determining the /initial/ adjustment, all of which use the manual star
adjuster (and each of which has a flaw for noobs like I am).

1. As you said, one method is to repeatedly dry fit the drum from far too
loose to just a teeny bit too tight, and then, as a final step, back off
the star adjuster a bit.

2. A similar method is to put the drum on the vehicle once, and adjust the
star adjuster until it just begins to feel friction.

3. The third method is to measure the width of the drum and the shoes to be
about 1/2 mm (20 thousandths of an inch) difference.

Each method works, but all three have noob flaws:
1. You have to know what to feel for.
2. Again, you have to know what to feel for.
3. You have to have the tools to measure drum width to reasonable accuracy.

I thank you for helping me understand what caused the vibration at speed,
which, as you said, I think it was that the shoes were too loose and the
brake cable too tight. I don't understand exactly how but that combination
caused a floating which caused the leading shoe to grab at speed which
caused the wobble.

It's a good thing this was found on a short test run, and not after long
term damage might have been incurred.

Thank you for your comprehensive explanation, where I apologize that I just
don't understand everything you said about why the shoes were floating but
that's my problem in comprehension and not yours in explanation.

On Wed, 14 Feb 2018 11:37:48 -0800, ultred ragnusen
wrote:

wrote:

For years I've done it by trial and error - adjust the shoes to what
I think is right, then dry-fit the drum - too loose, pull it off and
adjust up. Don't fit? back it off and try again. Usually only a few
minutes. Then fine adjust with the brake spoon. ALWAYS check the
ebrake cables - and REPLACE if they are sticky - or you'll just end up
doing the job again. Also make sure you have the wheel brake
adjustment right BEFORE applying the e-brake -particularly if there is
any chance it has a self adjusting e-brake linkage. Do it on a Ford
Aerostar and you'll find out why REAL fast!! You'll spend half an hour
backing off the cable adjuster - - - -

I am very glad you explained the error which I agree with you that it was a
big make for me to ass-u-me that since the daily automatic adjustment keeps
the shoes adjusted, that a manual adjustment would do the same.

I also agree with you that there seem to be three major methods of
determining the /initial/ adjustment, all of which use the manual star
adjuster (and each of which has a flaw for noobs like I am).

1. As you said, one method is to repeatedly dry fit the drum from far too
loose to just a teeny bit too tight, and then, as a final step, back off
the star adjuster a bit.

2. A similar method is to put the drum on the vehicle once, and adjust the
star adjuster until it just begins to feel friction.

3. The third method is to measure the width of the drum and the shoes to be
about 1/2 mm (20 thousandths of an inch) difference.

Each method works, but all three have noob flaws:
1. You have to know what to feel for.
2. Again, you have to know what to feel for.
3. You have to have the tools to measure drum width to reasonable accuracy.

I thank you for helping me understand what caused the vibration at speed,
which, as you said, I think it was that the shoes were too loose and the
brake cable too tight. I don't understand exactly how but that combination
caused a floating which caused the leading shoe to grab at speed which
caused the wobble.

It's a good thing this was found on a short test run, and not after long
term damage might have been incurred.

Thank you for your comprehensive explanation, where I apologize that I just
don't understand everything you said about why the shoes were floating but
that's my problem in comprehension and not yours in explanation.
When I was teaching the trade I would have had a brake unit in front
of me, and you face to face - which would make the "understanding" a
whole lot easier.

Next time you have a drum off, pull the emergency on part way and
then lookat what has happened to the position of the shoes. Check
closely before and after. then picture what would happen if the front
shoe was "picked up" by the drum and consider the e-brake cable to be
a spring. You'll get the picture.

wrote:

When I was teaching the trade I would have had a brake unit in front
of me, and you face to face - which would make the "understanding" a
whole lot easier.

I agree with you that it must work the way you say, mechanically, but my
brain is having trouble visualizing how all the pieces work together in
that I know only how the pieces fit together, but I can't "touch" them and
"push" them and "wiggle" them in my brain to see how they affect each other
in real life.
http://i.cubeupload.com/Ktc8zF.jpg

Next time you have a drum off, pull the emergency on part way and
then lookat what has happened to the position of the shoes. Check
closely before and after. then picture what would happen if the front
shoe was "picked up" by the drum and consider the e-brake cable to be
a spring. You'll get the picture.

Thanks for that explanation which is hard to write because you're
describing a moving system with springs and interactions.

The key I learned is that the star adjustment step just can't be skipped!

To try to give back to the group for the kind help, here is the tool I made
to make it easier to hold back the locking plate off the star adjuster. The
wire came out of a hot water heater I took apart to see how it works
inside, and it's about 6 to 8 inches long, where the critical part is the
painted area that starts 1-3/8" from the end, and is 3/8" long, which I
filed down to make an indent (since the whiteout paint wouldn't likely last
long).
http://i.cubeupload.com/LzvBps.jpg

The tool is to push away the plate which locks the star wheel he
http://i.cubeupload.com/Mgwt06.jpg

This is all you see from behind, if your head was as thin as a cellphone:
http://i.cubeupload.com/IQdwAl.jpg

The tool needs to go in deeper than a noob like me would think it needs to:
http://i.cubeupload.com/GuF7mL.jpg

Once it touches the plate, you need to push another 3/8" inward:
http://i.cubeupload.com/Hu4wpu.jpg

Then you have to hold it in that position while you get a chisel:
http://i.cubeupload.com/ALZOLp.jpg

This is what it looks like from the other side when its in position:
http://i.cubeupload.com/RyDEnN.jpg

You will have measured the drum diameter already at around 11-1/2 inches:
http://i.cubeupload.com/LMSp4y.jpg

You adjust shoes until they are 1/2mm (20 thousandths) less than drums:
http://i.cubeupload.com/RhPoYX.jpg