Itinerant Air-Cooled

dingo wrote:thought i might remove the whole adjuster unit..but the two bolts are hidden behind the wheel hub flange..so much for that idea

tried to dremel thru frozen adjuster bolt....the cutting wheels kept shattering..resorted to hacksaw blade held by vice-grip....finally freed that sucker !! Now i have all four adjusters turning smoothly, although pass. side will have to be a 'drum-off' adjustment due to stars being 'nubs'

Paint a good coat of regular grease on the adjusters and in their bores, after thoroughly cleaning, assemble and wipe off excess grease before attaching shoes. Have fun with that. Hint: remove the shoe screws from the adjusters slide them into the bores and screw in the screws while trying to keep the trapped air from popping them back out . Then back off and readjust every oil change, with needle nose vice grips. If you can get a dremel cut off wheel at it I'll bet you can get a small enough pair of needle nose vice grips to fit. That'll keep 'em free and adjusted.

Paint a good coat of regular grease on the adjusters and in their bores, after thoroughly cleaning, assemble and wipe off excess grease before attaching shoes. Have fun with that. Hint: remove the shoe screws from the adjusters slide them into the bores and screw in the screws while trying to keep the trapped air from popping them back out . Then back off and readjust every oil change, with needle nose vice grips. If you can get a dremel cut off wheel at it I'll bet you can get a small enough pair of needle nose vice grips to fit. That'll keep 'em free and adjusted

will do...thanx

at what point do you back up 3 stars ? stuck solid ? moderately stuck ? scraping ?(its seems always to be scraping...which gives false backup point)

dingo wrote:at what point do you back up 3 stars ? stuck solid ? moderately stuck ? scraping ?(its seems always to be scraping...which gives false backup point)

You could drive it. You'll know really quickly.

dingo wrote:at what point do you back up 3 stars ? stuck solid ? moderately stuck ? scraping ?(its seems always to be scraping...which gives false backup point)

Moderate sticking. Then *hit the brake pedal a few times* and *apply the ebrake and release* then see if the wheels have miraculously freed up. If they have, readjust to moderate sticky and back off two star adjuster teeth each, then test for mild scrape lasting less than 180º.
Colin

If they are too tight, you'll still be able to rotate 'em by hand (without grunting) but when you get into 4th, you'll wonder why the hell you can't get above 45. Not, of course, that I've experienced this myself. Certainly not.

If you plan to drive hot day high speed mountain passes, slightly looser-than-usual brakes will give you better cooling of the shoes and drums.
Colin