For us young guys with old cars that didn't get taught this: Drum brakes have a self adjusting feature. I've found that many people don't realize how they work. Put the car in reverse and back up, then stop, repeat until the pedal comes up. If this doesn't help, it's time to inspect them, maybe clean, or rebuild.
I'm not trying to rain on your parade but I thought the self adjusters did'nt come out till the 70's. Self energizing brakes have been around alot longer but they lack the extra self adjusting hardware & the back-up & apply brakes method has no effect on adjustment. Some people get confued & think because the brakes have a star wheel adjuster that they are automatically self adjusting. This is not true. Correct me if I'm wrong. Billy
Some self adjusters adjust when you set the parking brake. I think Chevys got self adjusters around '63.
I believe mid-'60s was when self adjusters became just about universal. If you don't have self adjusing brakes, its not real hard to adjust them manually. Get the wheels off the ground (& supported securely). Give the tire a good spin. Using a flat-bladed screw driver or brake adjusting tool, reach thru the backing plate access hole & turn the adjuster until you get a light drag on the drums (you'll know it when the tire slows down or you hear the audible sound of the shoes rubbing the drum). It takes a little work, but get all the wheels close to the same amount of drag- a very very slight drag. Test the brakes & adjust them as needed.
You're right. Should have added some dates. First Ford: 57 Edsel, all Ford by 62. First Stude: 46 Dodge: 62 GM: ? My 60 has real self-adjusters that work, but I think now that they may be from an earlier conversion. Conversions are available for most drum setups.
NO! Early juice brakes are not self adjusting. Ford didn't have self adjusting drum brakes until around 64 or so.
For those of us who can never remember which way to turn the star wheel (You adjust them by turning them "up" on one side of the car, "down" on the other), keep a spare adjuster wheel in the tool box. Hold it up to the backing plate so the star is at the window to see which way the adjuster is oriented. Self adjust came out sometime in the early '60s. BUT, Classic Chevy International carries a self-adjust conversion kit for '55-mid '60s Chevy cars. The price isn't too bad, but what's really cool is that you can probably adapt them to other makes/models with the same size drums. At the very, very least you can see how the conversion is done, and then find the parts in a junk yard. CCI has every tech article they've ever written, so you migh be able to call and ask for a copy of the directions to get a feel for it. I'm converting my '54 Buick drums to self adjust with later Buick 12-inch drum parts. (The '55-'57 Chevy drums are 11x2. Not sure about later Chevy cars) -Brad
Self adjusters are great in principle but in reality they rarely work as well as you'd think. Going by my little brake shop survey, 95 % of the cars on the road need their brakes adjusted. Try as they might ...cars need maintenance.
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