Does anyone's automatic brake adjusters work? I have a 66 El Camino and they have never worked as long as I have had the car (13 years). Over the last year I have put on new shoes, new hardware, and new adjuster hardware. I can adjust the brakes manually and the pedal will be up for about 4-5 days then it is back near the floor. Once there, it stays there and goes no farther down. The car will stop but the low pedal bothers me. I pulled the drums today and went over the installation with the service manual nearby. Everything seems to be installed correctly. The pivot points on the adjusters and the contact points on the backing plates are lubed. The new star adjusters are lubed (they are on the correct side). When I test the adjusters, as outlined in the service manual, they work (pulling down on the adjuster to see if the star rotates, it does). I always use the brakes when backing. I've been fighting this for years and finally decided to ask here. It really is troublesome having to pull the wheels and do this adjustment every few weeks.

The short answer in no and the reason that was explained to me is that we tend to put our foot on the brake pedal and ride the brake as we back up and don't pump the pedal to get the adjuster to work. Sounds reasonable to me, I adjust rear brakes at work all the time and if you use the park brake, it sometimes will keep the rear brakes in better adjustment.

Mine have always worked, BUT, I have never had a super high pedal. This has been the case for as long as I can remember. I cured most of the problem by converting to power disc brakes. I usually do a hard stop when backing up which keeps the rear brakes adjusted fairly well. I can tell if the rears need adjustment by the level of the parking brake. If it goes down more than 5 clicks, the rears haven't been adjusting. A couple of stops and I'm back in business. Of course, I travel over a 100 miles a day back and forth to work with a few backup manuevers with each trip, and the car is the only one I drive, so there are lots of opportunities for the rear brakes to automatically adjust. My wife's '70 had a nice high pedal from the day she bought it new, but mine, with the old drums, was always a little lower. With frequent rear stops, the brakes should remain properly adjusted.

firm reverse stops help plus just in case you didn't realize - you can access the adjusters without taking the wheel and drum off, there is a sight plug on the backing plate and through this hole using a flat head srew driver you can reach and adjust the star wheel.

I've always done it in reverse, from 20-25mph, and stop just hard enough not to lock em up, and all is well, @ least for me. Good luck graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Are you sure you did not transpose the left side and right side star wheels? One is reverse threaded. They must be on correct side.

Rene

It is true, I don't hit the brakes hard when backing. I'll try giving them a hard hit every so often.

Walrus, no knock out or plug in the backing plates. I looked for them. I drilled holes in the rear backing plates, need to enlarge them more, to adjust with the wheels on. Suspension parts are in the way on the fronts.

Nomad, 20-25 is cookin' in reverse smile.gif .

Shooter, they are on the correct side. I can adjust them without problem with a spoon. And I made sure they expand when the star is moved in the direction the self-adjuster moves. I double checked that the star adjuster spring was on correctly so it doesn't interfer with anything.

I'll try hitting the brakes harder when backing up. Hopefully that will make them work.

Thanks to everyone graemlins/thumbsup.gif .

Originally posted by Pat Kelley:
...no knock out or plug in the backing plates. I looked for them. I drilled holes in the rear backing plates, need to enlarge them more, to adjust with the wheels on.That's because the adjuster slots were actually in the original brake drums...

Right you are Bill, holes in the drums not in the backing plates. When I changed to aluminum drums on the bracket car, they didn't have adjuster slots. I cut some.

That's because the adjuster slots were actually in the original brake drums... [/QB]ahhh my mistake also, my appologies graemlins/thumbsup.gif