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What's the best way to adjust the rear brakes with the drums on. Any chance you can get to the adjuster through the wheel bolt tapped hole ?

Mark

yes mark you can, as you turn the drum you will be able to see the wedge shape adjuster that drives the shoes apart (automatically which never works)
if you pull it down you can adjust the brakes without having to take the drum off.

Cheers mate, thought I had read it somewhere. Mark

I put cooper grease on the adjuster and put a much stiffer spring on it but still needs manually adjusting

Hook the bottom of the wedge through a bolt hole, then get a mate to stand on the pedal to take the pressure off the wedge so you can pull it down. Depending what wheels you have, you can sometimes get away with just removing 1 wheel bokt

Nate wrote:Hook the bottom of the wedge through a bolt hole, then get a mate to stand on the pedal to take the pressure off the wedge so you can pull it down.

wont this risk locking the brake on nate?

This is how i was taught to do it as an apprentice. If you don't take the pressure off the wedge, you are unlikely to get it to move.

Assuming that the drums aren't out if tolerance for oval-ness then there is no reason it should lock. Obviously the brakes should be examined blah blah usual don't neglect servicing your brakes blah

Fair enough.
Just had visions of the wedge holding the shoes onto the drum if you apply the brakes first.
Will have to give this a try as my rear brakes have always been naff

Once you've done it, work the handbrake a couple of times to resettle the shoes. You'll probably find you also loose 3 or 4 clicks off the handbrake travel. I've seen a few vws that have had the rear brakes adjusted by just tightening up the cables on the handbrake, so when you adjust them properly they do lock. This is the handbrake effectively being on even when it isn't, so a couple of turns off the adjusters will sort it.

Once done, try and drive off (backwards often works better) with the handbrake on whilst looking in the rear view mirror. Keep your head still and make sure that the car doesn't tilt as the suspension rises (or falls if you're going forwards) which would indicate one side giving more effort than the other.

Again, I must stress that this assumes that everything else in the brake system is healthy. If you're not 100% confident then take it to someone who is and get them to help you

Best way guaranteed is fit the shoes and drums and then making sure that the cables are fully backed off in the cab so that the check nut is just onto the cable then press down firmly on the brake pedal about 5 or 6 times , you will actually feel through the pedal as the adjusters take up the slack

Then adjust the handbrake lever for 5 or 6 clicks (double check that they turn freely without binding when released ) and you will have excellent rear brakes

Yes, that's how it is supposed to work, but rarely does

Never any more than 3 clicks on my hand brake and the rear wheels are locked. It will hold the car on a gentle slop on just 1 click. The handbrake cables nuts are also both at the end of the cable.
I adjust my rear brakes by pulling the wedge down once the drums are on.