Car D.I.Y.

[Phaeton]

Not in my experience.

The wedge adjusters in the old Golfs were easily fixed though by getting someone to stand on the brake pedal and then hitting the drums with a hammer so the wedge was shocked into taking up the slack.

The only ones that I can remember working were some inboard disc ones, possibly Jaguar or maybe P6 Rover they were a very fine toothed & held in a greased enclosure or something where damp couldn't get to them. Although I maybe completely wrong about it, but have a vague recollection of being quite impressed with them.

 

[Pale Rider]

When we serviced a drum braked car, we would routinely wind up the rear self adjusters a couple of clicks.

That, and blow lethal asbestos dust all over the garage with the compressed air line.

 

[Adam4868]

I seem to remember there was a service hole on some drum brakes ,? Used to like a screwdriver through to adjust

 

[Pale Rider]

I seem to remember there was a service hole on some drum brakes ,? Used to like a screwdriver through to adjust

Yes, there was a hole in the back plate.

Handy if you didn't want to remove the drum.

From a garage service point of view, the procedure was put the car on a wheel free hoist, remove the drum, check the shoes for wear, scuff the shoes with emery cloth, blow the dust everywhere, then click the self adjuster.

It was also easy to pop the drum back on again, check for free spinning, and give the adjuster another click if it would take it.

Incidentally, most drums had a small countersunk set screw to hold them in place.

I could never work out why, given the drum is also held in place by the wheel and its four studs and nuts.

Or three bolts and a locator pin if it was a Renault, but that's the French for you.

 

[Phaeton]

Incidentally, most drums had a small countersunk set screw to hold them in place.

I could never work out why, given the drum is also held in place by the wheel and its four studs and nuts.

Especially as they were a right royal barstool to get out

 

[Adam4868]

Lol...never replaced the screw But the drum was sometimes a barstool to get off,hammer time ! I remember as a kid my dad saying put your ear to it and blowing it out....

 

[fossyant]

Turned out a good job I took the car to the garage for the mid section of the exhaust. I'd fitted the rear box in the summer, so that was easy to remove. An hour and a half it took them to fit the mid section after twice being sent the wrong one (despite knowing exactly which bit it was). The bolts were a little stubborn after 19 years !

 

[rockyroller]

hey Drago, do you have a home DIY thread started?

 

[Pale Rider]

Especially as they were a right royal barstool to get out

Some were, although we always replaced them, and had a little tray of new ones to use if the head was badly chewed.

As regards purpose, all we could think is they were there in the unlikely event of losing a wheel.

If the drum went as well, all the braking slack - depending on the system - could be taken up by the now 'free' shoes, meaning you'd have no brakes on the other wheels.

I lost a front wheel on a customer's disc braked Datsun Bluebird.

'Someone' had forgotten to tighten the nuts on that wheel.

No big drama, the car bumped and ground to a halt on three wheels.

The car was undamaged, apart from some road scuffing on the edge of the disc.

 

[tyred]

I seem to remember there was a service hole on some drum brakes ,? Used to like a screwdriver through to adjust

My 1960s Ford tractor has that and no self-adjusting mechanism.

Tighten it up until it starts to bind and then back off half a turn.

 

[Phaeton]

Put some new calipers on the back of the kit car this afternoon strangely enough they have manual adjusters on the handbrake even though they work on the discs.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Fixed bonnet release catch so bonnet shuts properly. Prompted by mot fail.

 

[Drago]

Collected my XC90 from the dealer, who'd fitted a new ABS reluctor ring. They seemed most affronted that my DIY diagnosis was correct, and that id not paid them to diagnose it

So the iCarsoft V2.0 Volvo has already paid for itself.

 

[Drago]

Noticed last night that the bidet is getting a bit lazy. The power of Google shows that the dirt and crud gets sucked into the low pressure area behind the car and finds its way past the wiper motor spindle seal and bungs it up. So, if the rain permits today i'll whip the motor out for a strip, clean and regrease, which appears to be a straightfoward procedure.

I love fixing stuff!

 

[biggs682]

Lol...never replaced the screw But the drum was sometimes a barstool to get off,hammer time ! I remember as a kid my dad saying put your ear to it and blowing it out....

Lada's use to have alloy drums so they often corroded against the stub on the axle Shaft had quite a few shatter on us whilst trying to remove