Brake adjustment

[GreggH]

Repacked wheel bearings yesterday on '05 31' Classic with less then 10,000 miles. When adjusting brakes I couldn't detect any difference in wheel spin wether adjustment was full tight or full loose. Is this adjustment so fine it's hard to detect. Plenty of pad on brakes.
GreggH

[jimmickle]

You should be able to lock up the wheel with brake adjustment. Take a look, with the drum off to see if you are really making an adjustment. When you get to full tight, the wheel won't turn. It often takes quite a few clicks to do the adjustment.

Jim

[GreggH]

Jim,
Thanks for the response. I tried again and did feel a difference. It did take quite a few clicks to tighten to get heavy drag. I had it at complete loose but guess I didn't go far enough for tightening. I was doing it with a screwdriver so some of my attempts was just making noise and not actually turning the adjuster. Guess I should invest in an adjusting tool.
GreggH

[Fyrzowt]

Originally Posted by GreggH

Jim,
Thanks for the response. I tried again and did feel a difference. It did take quite a few clicks to tighten to get heavy drag. I had it at complete loose but guess I didn't go far enough for tightening. I was doing it with a screwdriver so some of my attempts was just making noise and not actually turning the adjuster. Guess I should invest in an adjusting tool.
GreggH

Yeah, an adjusting tool will make it a lot easier. Should be under $10 if you get the cheap one, look in the "bargain bin" at NAPA or Kragen. Don't bother getting the "Snap-on" or similar quality, for what you're doing the cheap ones work just fine.

Dave

[SafeHarbor]

Speaking of the bargain bin at NAPA - I picked up a brake adjusting caliper tool that measures the inside diameter of the drum and the outside diameter of the brake drums. It should be make reassembly and adjustment much faster next time I have the brakes apart, and it was only like $33.

I'll also get a chance to use it within the next couple of weeks. I have four wheel cylinders to rebuild on a 1953 Pontiac.

Lamar