Ok, so here's the deal, my parking brake wouldn't work, so my mechanic looked and said your drums are way the hell out of adjustment... he tightened them...

I drove around, I could smell the brakes burning as if they had never even been used... I could feel the heat emenating from them... that lasted about... oh a day, probably less... enough for me to not notice they weren't working...

Fast forward a year to now... I go to do a mock-up launch on the street to get an idea of what RPM to launch at when at the track, I hold the brakes firmly and bring the RPMs up... my rear wheels start spinning... WTF?! The rear drums obviuosly arn't working again... I should have noticed when the parking brake stopped working again...

I've tried the 'several stops in reverse to automatically readjust the rear drums', but it doesn't work...

Is something sticking? What can I do to fix it, and how can I readjust it and have it stay adjusted so they work and stay that way?

 

When I got my car, the rear drums needed attention too. A spring was disconnected, shoes reversed, what a mess. You may have to make sure everything is hooked up and working properly and the self adjuster has free movement to adjust itself. look at both side to compare. I also put new seals in the wheel cylinders, bleed them, they've been working good since.

 

I'll take a look at them when I rotate my tires this week, thanks.

Is there anything an amature can mess up by going in there and messing with stuff? I don't feel like screwing it up to bad to the point where I need to tow it to a junkya.... I mean, a mechanic...

 

You won't hurt anything by pulling the drum's to take a look and clean it up. If you're going to pull anything apart, do one side at a time so you can refer to the other side where to put things back. You can turn the star wheel to adjust them up while you're there, just don't go too far or you won't be able to get the drum back on.

 

If you get a drum harware kit to replace the springs and little parts don't use a cheap drum spring puller. Mine slipped off a spring and shatered both of my upper front teeth. I use Vice Grips now

R