Rear Brake Adjustment, theory and practice.

Off memory book says 6-9 clicks is "within range" if not holding after 8-9 clicks you got some knobs to turn and objects to torch / hammer. ..repeatedly..

 

That works. It holds at 6 clicks and won't go past 8. I even did a slight 1/2 adjustment up on the LSPV. Much better results on the hot lap.

 

Just dropping this here also, since it’s out in the world. Regarding LSPV adjustments to improve braking performance by shifting more responsibility to the rear brakes…

it’s worth marking the original position with paint marker BEFORE adjusting if you choose to move the assemble up the threaded post, so you can always restore things if you don’t like the feel of more work being pushed to the drums.

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What kind of fancy hardware did you get m22.? Lookin tidy

 

Everyone's favorite!

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Notice how @shifty` zoomed out just enough to capture the LSD sticker in the frame

 

Trippy, ain't it?

 

I wanted to share my experience in case it helps someone. Saturday I replaced my rear brake shoes. Installation went fine and I uploaded a video showing the function of the star wheels/self adjusters. It shows that everything appears to be working correctly as I press the parking brake.

Fast forward to yesterday and I go to test drive the truck. The brakes are terrible. Funny(or sad) given my brake history with this truck. @RUSTYNUTS is laughing.

What I realized is that it didn't matter how many times I pressed the parking brake, the self adjusters eventually just stopped adjusting. I put the truck in neutral, rear tires off the ground, and it was clear as I spun the tires that the shoes were not lightly touching the drum. I ended up having to give each star adjuster around 7-8 clicks with a screwdriver from the access hole in the backing plate. That got the brakes almost where they need to be. I'll be fine tuning them soon.

Where I think I messed up is that I forgot to adjust the bell cranks. I'm guessing they just aren't able to pull the brake shoes enough to get them where they need to be. I'll be working on that this week. Prior to working on my brakes, my parking brake worked perfect. As of today it sucks.

TLDR-if you work on your rear brakes, don't forget the bell cranks.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Zi1t2npPdEo?si=59UHsQTXLkvtQH3q


Bell Crank adjustment below. Copied from the original post.




Also including the troubleshooting guide that @jpink made.

 

Where's my royalties @FirstGenVol

 

Looks like I had this on the 'puter and haven't uploaded it to this thread. There was an updated adjuster / starwheel for 2000-2001. They reduced the number of teeth which would in turn increase the rate of self adjustment. New part numbers were listed at the time. Oddly enough the newer 26 tooth adjusters have been discontinued and the previous 30 tooth are still available.

 

At some point they changed them again. I noticed when watching a YouTube video that whatever year he was working on had a completely different design than the parts I have.

Screenshot from video: mine looks nothing like that.

 

Believe those are the later 05-06 versions. We've seen some pics on here that looked that way too.

 

Hey all,

Posted this in another thread (sorry for duplicate)

I have been working to get my parking brake functioning properly. Currently it holds the truck in place but only on level ground, and with all of the cable tensions maxed out (under the dash and truck).

I pulled the drums today and everything looked to be in smooth working order. Plenty of life on the shoes and drums.
I adjusted the bell cranks according to the the FSM. The bell cranks move freely in their full range of motion. When I reassembled and spun the wheels you could hear the shoes rubbing slightly but there was only a very small amount of drag if any. I didn't adjust the shoes further.

When the parking brake is not engaged, the bell crank adjustment screw does not return to rest on the brake housing. There is about 3/4 in gap between the screw and the housing even with the parking brake off. This makes me think the cable is too tight, but loosening the cable any and the p brake won't function.

I don't hear a click when I engage the parking brake but the star screw was turning freely and I could make it click by turning it from inside the drum when I had it open. All other components moving parts in the e brake cable system are moving freely. Brakes are otherwise working well. No soft pedal.

Any suggestions for next steps appreciated.

 

-Are you missing the springs on the bell crank?
-Can the bell crank move its entire range with the brake cable disconnected? (they are notorious for freezing)

 

@w666 the bell crank has all springs and moves entire range freely. Nothing is frozen in the e brake system that I can tell.

 

Hey All,

I finally got my brakes adjusted. I'm going to share a few things I learned because if you made it this far in the thread you are probably still confused by this braking system. I read through all ofthe threads and just couldn't figure out the system. I bled my brakes repeatedly, including the master cylinder, but was still getting too much travel in my brake pedal and my parking brake wouldn't hold the truck when completely maxed out. Now my brakes work great. Better than I could have imagined, and yours can too.

HERE ARE SOME TRUTHS:

- If your rear brakes are not adjusted correctly your entire braking system will not work properly and you will have a soft or squishy pedal.

- If your parking break isn't holding the truck and your shoes are in good functioning order, your rear brakes are not adjusted properly. You must adjust your parking brake and your rear brakes correctly for your front brakes to work correctly. Otherwise too much braking will be down by your front calipers and your rotors will warp.

- If the gap between the rear brake shoes and drums is off even a small amount, your parking brake won't hold the truck and your pedal feel will be poor. The movement of the rear shoe is very small. If drums are improperly adjusted, you can max out your parking brake cable's adjustments and the shoes will still not contact the drums sufficiently to hold the truck.

- Here is a video that explains how to manually adjust your rear drums:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ejpP_Ldq0QI&pp=ygUfRmlyc3QgZ2VuIHR1bmRyYSBwYXJraW5nIGJyYWtlIA==

- Here is how to adjust your rear drums in short form. Disconnect your parking brake from the bell crank. Remove your rear drum, turn the star wheel adjustment until there is some resistance when putting the rear drum back on. Then adjust the bell crank screw so there is about 1mm gap. Re-attach your parking brake and adjust the parking brake adjustments until you have 8-10 clicks in the parking brake.

Thats it. Enjoy stopping well.

 

You are correct. It’s the FGT better braking mantra.

ADJUST YOUR REAR BRAKES FIRST.

 

A very small amount. This part is critical and it wasn't clear to me until my most recent brake work. Those shoes have to be dialed in. I'm still considering just deleting the prop valve as I don't think it's working properly.

 

I just did the LSPV delete this weekend. There was a solid improvement for me once I got the manual valve adjusted correctly. Looking back now, I would say my LSPV was failing or failed. If you think your LSPV is gone, worth the swap, IMHO.

 

Did you go with Wilwood? I'm assuming it's an easy swap?

 

Well hell, I didn't know you were gonna swap in a manual valve. I wouldntve given you the spray bottle. I thought you were gonna throw in a T-tap and call it good.

 

I'm not that stupid.
Wilwood has a product for our trucks.


https://www.firstgentundra.com/firs...te-kit-for-wilwood-manual-proportioning-valve

 

I used a different kit than the Wilwood one, I put mine at the master cylinder instead of under the truck, but the Wilwood can go there too. This is an old pic, but that line sticking off it is a little tidier now.




I bought tee this to put in place of the original LSPV, perfect fit. Specifically bought it for the hole to easily mount it to the frame.

$10 SING F LTD Hydraulic Brake Pipe Union TEE Fitting M10 Auto

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N2HLYC6?ie=UTF8




I still had some spongey-ness in the pedal I couldn't bleed, so I decided to delete the return line for the rear brakes to see if that would make a difference. Brake fluid has no choice but to go through the ABS lines this way to get to the rear brakes, otherwise there is a Tee under the brake booster that splits fluid before it goes to either the ABS lines, or directly to the rear. I much prefer it this way and have been running it without issues for awhile now.

 

Yessir, it was super easy. I used that kit you linked for simplicity. Took me a couple hours. If I did it again I might drop the spare so I can reach in there a little easier. Of course, I do have a full size spare... if you had a factory size spare it would be fine. I still have the return line sitting in there just in case it didn't work but I will most likely pull it out in the future.

 

Just thought I'd ask in this relevant thread I found when I searched... Here's what's going on:

I recently had about 500lbs of constant weight added to the bed between a truck camper and gear... and to my surprise the brakes handled it nice and I actually feel like my braking improved after the camper was installed. Fast forward to this weekend and I installed the RAS active suspension on the leaf springs which greatly helps the leaf springs support weight. The ride is fantastic and so far I'm super happy. But I've noticed my braking power is greatly reduced almost to the point that it's scary. I'm thinking it has to do with this LSPV adjustment and I plan to dive into this headfirst. Brake pads are good and brake fluid replaced about 20k miles ago. Before I do any adjustments, just wanted to hear your guy's thoughts. Thanks!




@shifty` do you think my theory that a rear brake adjustment would help is valid?

 

Just how much should the rear parking brake be able to hold?

Meaning mine will hold at idle, but if you start giving it a little gas the truck will start rolling just before the engine reaches 1000 rpms

 

That sounds about right to me, and similar to my experience on my '06.