The anti-lock unhook thread got me thinking about adjusting my rear brakes on the '01 Durango. Another poster (70Cuda383, I think) said his parking brake going soft was an indicator of the need for adjustment.

What is the correct procedure? 8-1/4 rear with sure-grip on mine. Just spin wheel with rear of car on jack stands while adjusting star out to contact and back off a dozen clicks? Or what?

As always, TIA.
-Marq

On new brakes I adjust until there is slight rubbing then a couple more clicks. As the shoes bed in wear in they will wear the high spots off the lining and it will be about right.

On bedded in brakes, adjust until there is slight contact. If the self adjusters are working correctly, you shouldn't need to adjust rear brakes after the initial installation. If much adjustment is needed it would be a good idea to take a look-see. Maybe corrosion or crud is fouling the adjusters.

Sometimes the emergency brake cable itself needs adjusted but you are right to check basic brake adjustment first.

Thanks for input. Had the car since '05 and drums haven't been off since purchase. Doubtful the PO did anything either. I will take a look-see weekend after next. Thx again.

I put the rear up on HD stands with my heaviest hyd floor jack under/just touching the bottom of the 3rd member for addt'l safety & have a helper in the dr seat start it let it idle in gear then hit/hold the brakes to stop the wheels and I spoon them a few clicks then he lets off the brake & repeat until there is a slight "tick" at one point in the wheel revolution doing each side & level driveway/HD jack stands/carefull placement of them/safety

In 2004 I bought a used 2001 4x4 durango that had a somewhat low pedal. It needed both adjuster cables, as they had stretched, making them too long to keep adjusted correctly.

Back in the day before self adjusting brakes the rule was tighten the dajusteer wheil spinning the tiire until it lock up solid, back the adjuster off 5 or 6 clicks. The adjuster back then had a lot more room between the teeth so 10 or 12 clicks , if your real careful and don't move it two clicks at once, will work fine Minimum wage was $1.00 hour then, a brake adjustment was $1.50 to $3.00 depending on where you had it done, gas station(service station) versus a new car dealer

my brakes have all new hardware, cables, etc. and they don't stay adjusted. being a stick truck, I suppose my driving technique might be to blame. to make them "self adjust" I think you need to be rolling in reverse, and step on the pedal hard enough for the drums to grab, which "clicks" on the adjuster. it's not really "self adjusting" it's just "slowly expanding" the shoes...so I suppose in theory, you could do this to the point of locking up the back completely?

the way I do mine is at an oil change/tire rotation, while the wheel is off, remove the drum. feel for resistance. give it a few clicks, slide the drum on, if you can't feel the shoes while sliding the drum on, then it's not tight enough yet.

do this until it's snug while sliding the drum on, but not so tight that you're pounding it on with a hammer.

this also only works if your drums are in good shape, and don't have a lip worn into them by the shoes, otherwise you won't be able to remove the drums with the shoes adjusted as the lining will catch on the lip.

Was there ever a measuring tool for adjusting the brakes out to the drum diameter and then adjust the brakes after that?