RocketyMan

Ok so I was messing around with my emergency brakes in the rear and I notice that if I click up the e-brake a few times, my passenger side will lock up first while the driver side can still spin. I'd have to click up further for the driver rear wheel to fully lock up. I checked both sides and the shoes are worn pretty much the same. And everything pretty much looks the same too.

Is there an adjustment or something that I'm missing for the e-brake? I know there's the adjusting screw on the bottom, but isn't that only for when the hydraulic brake is applied?

built91Z28

The adjuster adjusts where the pads sit. That effects the parking brake and the regular brakes. So yes, if you tighten it on the side that is too loose, the parking brake will tighten up.

RocketyMan

I guess that would make sense. But when I apply the brakes, it should still apply evenly to both of the rear, right? It's just hard to imagine such a big difference when the adjusting screw at the bottom looks the same on each side.

built91Z28

A very small change in the adjuster can make a big difference in the how much the shoes grab. The correct way to adjust them though is this. Put the car and stands and pull the wheels and both drums off. Now, doing one side at a time, put a drum on and feel how hard it is to get on and how hard it is too spin the axle (you may have to have the trans in nuetral depending on if you have posi). You should have a slight amount of resistance when spinning the axle with the drum on. Remember to only have on the drum on the side your adjusting. Once you get the first side done, remove that drum and then do the other side. You dont want the resistance you feel to actually be the drum on the other side of the car.

RocketyMan

That makes sense I guess if you think about it. I'll go out and try it.

RocketyMan

Ok..I adjusted the screw on the bottom of the brakes. Both sides are completely different. To achieve the same taunt-ness, the passenger side was almost all the way screwed in while the driver side was more screwed out. The shoes have nearly the same amount of padding on each. I dunno...maybe that's just the way it's suppose to be.

snipzors

does this also apply to rear disc brakes?

recently i had the two rear calipers changed, everything was fine, went on a 5000 km round trip drive with the car no problems.. when i got back home i had an issue with my muffler clamp breaking so i brought it to the shop to fix (they also did my calipers). when i go back to pick up the car the mechanic tells me he tightened up my E-brake because i had to pull it all the way up to catch a tiny bit.. so i drive out of his shop and my drivers side rear tire is smoking like crazy, white smoke, smelled like burning brakes.. after a couple mins of driving it went away.. but now it feels like the ebrake is engaged all the time, loss of power very choppy, delay in acceleration etc. so i got under to the ebrake T and loosened it back off.... however it has not changed anything... when im driving if i go WOT it will vibrate and then kind of break loose and ill get my true power for a second then it bogs, also driving in 4th or 5th gear is virtually impossible on city streets, almost as if it doesn't have enough juice to push the car....
What could this mechanic have screwed up?? any ideas? could it be something else entirely and coincidental??

PLS HELP!!!

JamesC

iTrader: (5)

Return it to the mechanic.

JamesC

snipzors

except the guys an idiot and everything he touches turns to ****, i brought it to a diff shop and they said everything with it is fine... and got them to loosen ebrake even more.. still no effect.... just wondering if its something else entirely and it was just coincedental

MotorMouth

Every time you go backwards your self adjuster is supposed to tighten the brakes when you mash the pedal. But the problem is over a short time the brake dust and just wear and tear will cause the adjuster to stop working. The reason one side it tighter is because it's working better on one side than the other. This is not out of the norm. Also only one shoe makes contact with the drum then the other other one is pushed with the e-brake. When you use the pedal both shoes are pushed at the same time.

snipzors

rear disc brakes, so no drum... and its not really normal if its impeding my ability to drive

MotorMouth

This is the subject I was talking about.