How far to adjust rear drums?

[AMink]

I've looked at a lot of older posts on the drums, but haven't found my answer yet. When adjusting the brakes, how much drag should be on the drum? I notice that on mine, even after getting turned, that the noise is not consistent, i. e. it drags in spots and not in others. Should I leave it where it drags in spots or tighten so it drags all the way around, even if it is uneven? I have 106k and the shoes don't even look used! That could explain a lot of the front brake problems .

 

[DavidC]

I adjust mine for the intermittent drag. Full time drag would create alot of heat and kill mileage.



Dave

 

[JFaughn]

When you first start getting drag , put your tool on either side of the star wheel and push it side to side [ or ft. to rear relitive to truck ] becouse the drag could be an part of one shoe and not at all on the other , so what I like to do is adjust till drum will not move by hand then losen till almost no sound from drag , then keep on moving star wheel back and forth to make sure its centered , what your looking for is as little drag as possible and the brake peddle has no heigth differance when you pump it 2-3 times .

 

[Grizzly]

Rear drums are self adjusting, but for initial adjusting I tighten them until the wheel will not turn anymore as stated on 3rd post. Then I back off 10 clicks. The drum should have very little drag. Most important is that the wheel should not be too tight and you do the same to both rear drums. The self adjuster will do it own fine tuning.