rear brake adjustment?

[89newtome]

this is going to sound stupid but how do you adjust the rear brakes on a 89 full size blazer. I dont see a hole in the backing plate. do you have to remove the wheel? Im thinking the rear brakes are out of adj. i just bought this truck about a month ago and the brake pedal travels almost to the floor. The guy i bought it from said he replaced the rear brakes about 2 months before i bought it and he said the pedal has been like that ever since.thanks for any input

 

[sweetk30]

some have a plug that needs to be poped out and then put rubber plug back in its place. try this .

 

[Bob87Burb]

On my 87 Burb, there's no hole in the backing plate to adjust them with, it's on the outer part of the drum. You'll need to take the wheel off to do it. Also, the plug may not be popped out yet. On my new drums, it was stamped, but not punched all the way out.

 

[dremu]

this is going to sound stupid but how do you adjust the rear brakes on a 89 full size blazer. I dont see a hole in the backing plate. do you have to remove the wheel? Im thinking the rear brakes are out of adj. i just bought this truck about a month ago and the brake pedal travels almost to the floor. The guy i bought it from said he replaced the rear brakes about 2 months before i bought it and he said the pedal has been like that ever since.thanks for any input

Well, be nice to know what was replaced; if it was just shoes, no way that'll cause that much pedal travel. If the wheel cylinders were replaced, somebody didn't bleed the system properly.

Anyway, the adjusters are notoriously not self-adjusting (they're supposed to be.) I take the wheels and drums off 'cuz it's easy (mmm, air tools) and lets me look in there and see how bad things are. If you WD40 the heck out of the adjuster, it may start self adjusting again.

Adjustment procedure is to back up, bang the gas pedal, then stop quickly. Do this two or three times, and the adjusters are supposed to max themselves out. Also use your parking brake regularly.

And if you just bought the truck, might well be worth bleeding the brakes or having it done... don't ask me about it, I'm still draining brake fluid out of parts of my body where brake fluid is not intended to go!

-- A

 

[spearchucker]

if it was just shoes, no way that'll cause that much pedal travel.

Yes it can. When the shoes are worn out the adjuster is out too far to be able to get the new shoes in, so he probably turned the adjuster in too far. Then he put the new shoes on and didn't turn the adjuster out to make them tight again using the access hole in the drum.

 

[Jonny-K5]

theres no hole in the backing plate on an 89. never heard of one in the drum either. the backup trick is supposed to work, but never seems to do anything for me, maybe wd-40 would help.

what you need to do is pull both drums off, adjust the star nut til you can barely get the drum back on. check the wheel cylinders while you got the drum off, make sure they arent leaking.

if that doesnt fix it, try bleeding the brakes. if you dont know how, your best bet is to have a shop power bleed them, even if you do it wouldnt be a bad idea to have it power bled.