New shoes in drum brake, wedge adjustment

[adamyt]

Hiya chaps

 

Put new shoes into my pickup, passenger side went without a hitch however drives side is giving me trouble.

 

I can't get the drum back over the shoes, online there's talk about the adjusters and how you need to push them up, a lot use the drum as leverage which isn't installed on mine yet.

 

Anyone have any information on the exact procedure, how much force am I supposed to use?

 

That Polo GTI disk swap is looking pretty appealing now

[Breezy_Pete]

Should not require much force at all. If they are like the ones I'm familiar with, the edges have a texture that stops them slipping too easily, but it isn't a deep notching, so a gentle upwards tap should make it move. If the spring is in the way, disconnect it, move the wedge up then reconnect.

[adamyt]

Looks like I'm already as far as it'll go up, I bought these preassembled because ew springs, after getting the handbrake cable in it ended up popping apart so put it back together, not sure if that's causing issues. Much more fiddly to install on this side than the other.

 

The pins to secure were in while I was trying to fit, not in anymore as I've pulled it out a few times.

 

[Breezy_Pete]

Did you slacken off the central adjuster behind the lever inside the cabin?

That should be the first step in any drum-related process, and the last adjustment at the end.

[adamyt]

No I didn't, will give that a go and report back. Cheers

 

[adamyt]

Drum brakes are black magic

 

Removed all tension from handbrake cable, seated shoes back in place, drum fits over shoes now!

 

Started raining so assembly postponed. Thanks @Breezy_Pete 👑