i have adjusted the cable using the nuts next to the handbrake, but the handbrake is still not good enough.

am i correct in thinking, i must also adjust the star adjusters on each wheel to improve the braking?

i thought these were self adjusters and would therefore adjust themselves?
at the moment, they are adjusted so that that the bar that goes from shoe to shoe is at it's shortest.



steve........

- (#8713) Steve Lewis, 22 May 03 12:12

Hello Steve,

If you crawl under your van you should see the hand brake adjuster. It is basically a plate that has two cables attached to each end which go off to each rear brake and one cable in the centre that comes from the hand brake. As you lift the hand brake, the cable pulls the plate which pulls both rear brakes.

If you release your hand brake you should be able to tighten the 2 nuts on the end of the cable at the adjuster plate under the vehicle to improve things.

- (#8714) Mark, 22 May 03 14:25

Methinks your auto adjusters aren't. They should lengthen to take up clearance between shoe and drum. Are they fitted to the correct sides- l&r differ...

You can take as much play as you want out of the cable, but if the levers inside the drums aren't at their optimum angles (set by the auto adjusters) then the brake will be poor.

- (#8715) david miller, 23 May 03 1:11

i should add, slacken the cables right off (so that they're loose at the compensator mark describes, then operate the lever a number of times- you might hear the adjusters click up. otherwise, pull the drums off and manually adjust the starwheel untill the drum "just" goes back on.

the lever in the drum's got to swing through it's full range of movement to let the adjuster "catch" the starwheel. anything hindering that, like the cable pulled too tight at the front end or a sticking cable, will stop thhiis from happening.
hth

- (#8716) david miller, 23 May 03 1:15

All done.

Again a big thanks to all that offer help on this board.


Steve..

- (#8717) Steve Lewis, 23 May 03 7:11