Bell Crank Adjustment

Hello, I am needing to adjust the screw on my bell crank for the rear drums. What little information I can find, says it should be 0.4mm-0.8mm from the backing plate. Does it seem right to anyone? That is very small Gap.

I wish I would have looked at it closer before I made the changes that I did

 

I can't help with the answer but I'll add can anyone explain what the purpose of this screw is? Is it to adjust how tight the brakes are when the parking brake is engaged?

 

The shoe adjustment determines the bolt contact with the backing plate. Typically you should never touch the bolt and use the star wheel to adjust it.


So adjust the shoes tight, back off, set the bolt screw to spec

 

What do you mean by back off after you get the shoes tight?

 

Max it, making the shoes make full contact, then back them off, so they are seated, then adjusted. Then adjust the bolt.

 

I installed new leafs that were making contact with the emergency brake cable. So I made a bracket to raise the cable. But now the adjustment screw on the Bell crank doesn't touch the backing plate at all when the cable is hooked up to it.

 

And this video talks about the adjustment. But I don't see how it can be 0.4-0.8mm
https://youtu.be/GAS-bkj50is

I had to let a lot of the cable out to get it into what I think is close to spec. I guess since the lift yielded about two and a half inches from the old saggy suspension and raising the cable mounting point on the Bell crank up 3/4 of an inch, all of those things would lead to needing more cable

 

What that bolt does is remove most of the slack in the parking brake linkage inside the drum.

When everything is brand new it does not take but very little as things wear it needs adjusted tighter.

Something one gets a feel for after doing enough parking brake repairs .

 

Ah. So I may need to adjust the screw out some to compensate for the brake parts that have 65,000 miles on them?

But, do you know if that is the correct measurement, 0.4-0.8mm?

 

i never really ever measured I always went by feel .

i tighten things till I felt it contact then backed off a little.

To me it is not super critical the little slack that might still be present is easily removed when the parking brake is applied.

Been doing this since my first Toyota 4x4 20 years ago without issues.

 

Alrighty, thanks y'all. I'll try my hand at adjusting it a few more times

 

Good luck!

I have found the most important things are the brake shoes adjusted correct .

The pivot on the rear cable is free to move.

The cables have not stretched beyond the adjustments ability to remove all the slack.

 

Well only you know if the parking brake works like it should.

The use of the parking brake keeps the shoes adjusted.

good luck!