Rear brakes

I've got drum brakes on my '95 and they never self-adjust. Every once in a while I have to adjust them out so I can rear brakes. What am I doing wrong?

 

should adjust by going in reverse

roll backward

engage e-brake

repeat.

this should click them back each time until they are pretty much
'no clicks left' and are adjusted

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this assumes: good cable, housing, bell cranks are clean

 

They could be locked up/seized.

Never did it on a tacoma - but on an old Dana 44 axle, I replaced the adjuster and the entire spring assembly.

Again, I'm thinking Jeep here.... but I actually took my adjusters off to clean them and discovered they were all rusted up. You could try cleaning & lubing them???

 

Well I blast them with brake cleaner and put a dab of caliper grease so I always thought I was doing good. I'll try the roll back/e-brake method next time

 

Rolling back and hitting the e-brake will pull the lever up onto the tooth of the star wheel adjuster, but it won't turn the adjuster. You have to drive forward and hit the main brakes to actually turn the adjuster. So the whole self-adjustment process goes like this: drive backward, hit the e-brake and stop, release the e-brake, drive forward and hit the main brake and stop. Repeat.

The rear drums on my 2006 will self-adjust by using the e-brake in the forward direction, and it's pretty effective because the main pedal firms up higher right away.

 

Ok thanks for the info. Will definitely try it next time

 

They only self adjust to the extent of keeping you from losing rear brakes from lack of adjustment if you feel the pedal is low it will have to be done manually.

 

Something else just for the hell of it....

Take a look at your drum shoes. Are they wearing evenly (pad thickness) from top to bottom?

When my jeep adjusters were seized up, I was getting less wear at the adjuster end (bottom) and more wear at the opposite end by like 1/8".