Luis de Prat

I'm half way through the job of replacing the parking brake shoes on my 83. I got the star adjuster and the springs all set up and back on the hub.

I took out the driver's to adjust the mechanism from both the lever side and the hub side, but it's not working out and Haynes isn't overly detailed on the subject, either.

At any rate, I've figured out how to tighten the shoes inside the hub by pushing upwards on the star adjuster with a large flathead screwdriver, and down to loosen them.

What I can't figure out is how to adjust the mechanism from the lever, because when I get the shoes tight inside the hub, no amount of adjustment of the cable attachement at the lever will allow the hub to spin freely again.

What am I doing wrong?

TIA

83na944

Did you set the brake lever two notches up before you tightened the brake shoes? That is supposed to be the amount of slack required to fully release the shoes.

Luis de Prat

I think I did, but the hub still won't budge after I release the lever.

83na944

And you adjusted the brakes just to the point that you can't turn the wheel by hand?

Luis de Prat

Yes, I do this and then when I release the lever I still can't turn the wheel by hand.

83na944

Luis,

I've only done this once, but as I recall I had to adjust the cable at lever, too. The Haynes manual says you should release the lever, back off the shoes until you can just rotate the wheels, raise the lever two clicks, and then adjust the cable yoke under the carpet by the seat.

If the car is lifted high enough, you might want to trace the cable under the body to assure that its not binding or loose at some point.

Luis de Prat

Steve,

Thanks to you and help from Martin T. on the E-Mail lists, I was able to get the mechanism adjusted half decently.

I suspect the cable has stretched a bit over the years, making the slack at the lever greater than it should be. I shortened it as much as I could at the cable yoke and parking brake is functional again.

Thanks again.

83na944

Luis,

I trust Martin T. was more help. I'm a little hazy on this now and I was fortunate that my cable was not stretched when I did mine. Glad you got it worked out.

KuHL 951

I just adjusted the 83 last weekend. My Son had pulled it too far and the pawl flipped over locking the lever. I found if I adjusted the brakes to turn freely at 2 clicks it would take 5 clicks to set it tight. I readjusted them so I could just feel a bit of resistance at 2 and then it would lock tight at 4. It had a slight drag for a day and now all is fine as they seated in. What really helped was retracting the pads in the calipers before the final adjustment. This gives you a better feel without the additional drag of the pads. I didn't have to do the cable at the lever at all. I think you are right, your cable must have stretched a bit.