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How to Adjust Rear Drum Brakes

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#1 · (Edited)
How to Adjust Rear Drum Brakes

This writeup was inspired by this thread:

http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/34-1-4l-turbo/6326-brake-catching-sound.html



Why do my Cruze's drum brakes need adjusting?

The Cruze's drums are not adjusted very well from the factory. I believe the word "horrible" would describe it well. XtremeAaron and I had run into an issue where the brakes would create an audible and repetitive noise based on the rotation of the wheel when coming to a stop. The reason for this noise is that the brakes were only engaging during those noises, indicating that they were not adjusted correctly and were not even being used in most braking conditions to stop the car. They were only touching enough to create those noises.

Adjustment of drum brakes is very important for safe braking and stability. I highly recommend that anyone with a Cruze LS, 1LT, and ECO adjust their drum brakes.

This writeup will explain how to adjust these brakes.

Tools needed:

- Jack
- Jackstand
- Flathead screwdriver
- T30 Torx wrench/bit
- Lugnut removal tool


How-To:

To start, lift the car off the ground. Be sure that you have a jackstand as well as a jack. A jack is only intended to lift a car, not to hold the car up. This will need to be done on completely level ground as the parking brake will need to be disengaged this whole time. You will need to block off the front wheels to make 100% sure that the car doesn't roll). I simply left the car in 1st gear, but if you do this, be sure to take the car out of gear before starting it.


Once you get it off, you'll see something similar to this:


Using the T30 Torx bit/wrench, remove the screw that holds the drum in place:


Once the screw is removed, the drum should slide right off. If it doesn't, lightly wedge it with a flathead screwdriver in varying locations.


Once you get it off, you'll see the hydraulic piston and below it, the adjustment mechanism:


The adjustment mechanism pushes the brake shoes outward when the the adjustment nut is turned upward. I used a flathead screwdriver to turn it. It will only turn in one direction unless you pull back the locking plate.


On my Eco, I had to rotate the adjustment nut at least 7 clicks. Your needs may vary, so I would start at 2-4 clicks. Once you have made the adjustment, put the drum back on, making sure to line up the screw hole:


Lightly tighten the screw that goes in that hole, and spin the drum by hand. If you feel absolutely no resistance from the brake shoes, remove it and turn the adjustment nut a few more clicks. Repeat this procedure until you feel a small amount of resistance. You should still be able to turn the drum by hand without a whole lot of force. A small bit of resistance is fine, but if it's difficult to turn by hand, you adjusted it too far and will need to turn the adjustment nut in the other direction. To do so, you will need to lift the lock plate. You can do this either by lifting it directly, or pressing down on the opposite end of it.

Once you have a good adjustment, tighten the T30 screw. I highly recommend anti-sieze lubricant on the T30 screw that holds the brake drum. Place the wheel back on, lower the car, and repeat this procedure for the other wheel. Once all sides are done, take the car out for a drive.

If you hear the brakes rubbing while coasting, perform a few very hard stops from at least 40mph. If the rubbing noise does not stop, you've adjusted the brakes too far and will need to go back a few clicks.


Observations:

After adjusting my drum brakes, I noticed vastly improved braking performance and brake pedal feel. The car exhibited significantly less nosedive during harder braking, and felt much more confident and secure while coming to a stop. Engaging the handbrake was also more secure and required less actual height on the hand brake lever. The previously heard brake noise is also now completely gone.
 
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#6 ·
You did indeed! Thanks for that!

I figured this writeup would be necessary as I'm sure more people will run into this problem and it's not always convenient to drive 30+ miles to the dealer for something one can do in 1.5 hours no matter how mechanically un-savvy one might be.

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#7 ·
The guys at Discount Tire told me that whenever you have a wheel off you should polish the surface of the drum to keep the wheel from coming lose from an uneven surface between the inside of the wheel and the drum.

Thanks for this. I think my drums were adjusted when I had my handbrake adjusted. My overall braking improved after that adjustment.
 
#8 ·
Xtreme Thanks for the write up I'll do this right now!
 
#10 ·
I have described the adjustment of the parking brake a while ago….
It is true, you added excellent details!:eusa_clap:

http://www.cruzetalk.com/forum/9-ch...90-parking-brake-no-adjustment.html#post42089
Nice! I didn't even notice that, lol. Well, at least we have a dedicated how-to for it now that we can point people to when they come in complaining about the "brake catching" noise.

Hi5 for taking pictures as well.

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#11 ·
Thanks for the right up. I'll have to take a look at mine. I haven't noticed any noise but drums could not be touching at all.

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#12 ·
I need to do this but I'm a little confused about the "locking plate" and exactly how to slack off the adjustment if I go too far. Maybe you could add another picture and point to the place I need to press to release the lever that prevents rearward rotation of the adjuster.

Too bad the rubber plug on the backing plate doesn't line up with the star adjuster. I pulled it on mine but saw it wasn't anywhere near the adjuster so I put it back. I wonder how a mechanic would get the drum off in a high mileage car when the drum develops a lip at the edge. Somehow that rubber plug must come into play but it kind of baffles me.
 
#13 ·
When you take the drum off, you'll see what I mean. The locking plate is spring loaded against the adjustment nut. You can easily lift it with a finger. It doesn't so much as lock as it just keeps the adjustment nut from reversing on its own, identical to the "locking" mechanism on a ratchet.

I've seen videos of other cars having adjustment options when removing a rubber plug, so perhaps this was simply a reused part for a different drum brake set on another gm car.

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#14 ·
Drum brakes should be self adjusting, easiest way to do this is to back up on a decline, and constantly tap on the brake pedal, fully releasing each time. You should feel the pedal come up, or in other words, when applying brake pedal pressure, the brake pedal won't go down as far.

I have no choice in this matter, have a relatively steep driveway down to the road and have to step on the brake pedal every time. Brake adjusters only work in reverse, if constantly driving and only using brakes in the forward direction, brake shoe wear will increase the gap, lower the brake pedal, and thus adjustment is needed.

When doing a brake job, always set the adjusters on the loose side, back up and about every ten feet or so, don't have to drive fast, hit the brake pedal, when applied pressure gives about an inch of freeplay in the brake pedal, I know for sure the adjusters are working properly.

Noise normally occurs if the shoes don't want to self center. Lubrication of the shoes is important at three points on the shoe. At the cylinder, a rub point on the backing plate, and most important area is at the anchors at the bottom. If the shoes cannot self center, the automatic adjusters won't work properly. Yet another cause is over tightening the parking brake level, it has got to be against the stops. If even partially engaged, the shoes can't expand enough for that ratchet to get a click.

Front calipers also need to self center, otherwise get brake drag on one or the other pad, this can warp a rotor.

In road salt country, hate that **** stuff, both the pads slided and brake shoes get rusty, preventing self centering, always a spring time job for me. Found putting a thin coat of Permatex anti-seize on first, like painting it on the moving parts, followed by black brake grease, the anti-seize acts like a coating to retard rust buildup.

GM is doing a tad better job using anti-corrosion brake parts, but still not up to par in my experience. For years was raw cast iron. Seen shoes rusted on so bad, with the drum removed, can step on the brake pedal as hard as you can and not budge those shoes. You are not suppose to do this by the way, the pistons will pop out of the cylinder and all of your brake fluid will leak out.

Getting those seven clicks should have been accomplished by backing up the vehicle, and hitting the brake pedal seven times. If not, have other problems.
 
#15 ·
Nick, I and XtremeAaron tried this method of backing up and flooring the brakes, at least a dozen times each. No dice. It didn't do anything to solve this little problem of ours. The only way was to manually adjust the brakes.
 
#17 ·
I found the same thing. The drums got manually adjusted on my car within 1000 miles of getting it. That reminds me, it's time I did it again on both cars. It takes very little time the second (and third, and fourth, and fifth) time adjusting them.
 
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#16 ·
Ya know what's funny, I grew up driving old Detroit monsters with drums at each corner, so none of this is new to me. I was doing drum brake relines and adjustments on my mom's '64 New Yorker (jaHEEzus that was a beast), dad's '72 LTD Wagon/Family Truckster, and my '73 Nova before I even got my license. You kids these days...
 
#19 ·
Chevy says the brakes self adjust every time you use them and the owner's manual doesn't talk about braking while in reverse as a method to accomplish the adjustment. I think the self adjustment system can be built to work in either forward or reverse but I can't actually visualize how the Cruze works - maybe I lack mechanical imagination.

I think GM might have built the self adjusters deliberately to stay on the loose side as a fuel economy item. My brake pedal is so low that occasionally the right side of my shoe hits the gas when applying the brakes. I have a 2010 GM pickup that also has drums at the rear and it works much better, so I know GM can do it right - but not on the Cruze.
 
#20 ·
I've also repeatedly tried the reverse trick on the self-adjusters, per SOP with drum brakes, and it hasn't helped a thing... I figure I'm going to have to do this, sometime soon... E-brake all the way up won't hold the car, by itself (not in gear), on a hill, any more... 19k miles...

Mike
 
#22 ·
Mike, you're a classic example of why these drums don't in fact adjust themselves. If raising your e-brake all the way up doesn't hold the car by itself, there's a very real problem. If there is a self-adjust on these drum brakes, it certainly doesn't work. Fortunately, it's a fairly simple job; simple enough that you could even do it while rotating tires if you wanted to.
 
#23 ·
This photo presents questions as if that return spring is set a tad bit too low locking the adjustment screw ratchet gear. Sure, it can be turned by hand, but does that spring have enough tension on it to pull that pawl up to get that needed click? Also the thread in that self adjuster has to be bind free. Always question what kind of lubricant to use on those threads, fill a few drops of synthetic motor oil is the best to basically retard corrosion. The key enemy is brake dust getting in there

Also that pivot point on that pawl arm has to be free, I see they changed the design of that as well as the anchor supports.

If memory serves me correctly, self adjusting brakes came out in the early 50's and they were able to do it right, even way back then. Also seems like this should be Chevy's problem, not yours.

 
#24 ·
Next time I pull them off, I'll lube up everything to see if it help this problem. It may very well be that GM didn't adequately lubricate these components from the factory so they aren't adjusting correctly. I recall the dealership that XtremeAaron went to did nothing but lube up his brake components, stating that they weren't lubricated at all from the factory. It didn't solve his specific problem, but it may have solved a problem.

I agree, it is GM's problem, but my dealership is 20 minutes away and I simply don't have the time to drive 40 minutes round trip (adding mileage to my car and burning gas), wait for them to "inspect and adjust" the brakes, and then give me the car back when I can do it in my driveway in under 30 minutes. I would have to wake up earlier than usual as I have to get to work in the mornings, so the only real day I'd be able to go in is Saturdays, and I have most of my Saturdays booked now with building subwoofer boxes for people.

By all means, if it is more convenient for anyone to take their car in and have the dealer do it, you should do that instead of doing it yourselves, but if you have a jack, jackstand, T27 wrench/bit and a screwdriver, it's almost too easy not to do it yourself.
 
#25 ·
I want to urge some caution when performing this job. I worked on my brakes for the past hour and messed them up. It is possible to over adjust the star wheel and yet still be able to push the drum over the shoes by hand. I couldn't turn the drum at all by hand and I couldn't get the drum off either. I tried screwdrivers and prybars and it would move a little but I couldn't get it off. I mounted the wheel and I could spin it by hand but with significant resistance. I knew it was pretty tight but I convinced myself it would probably be OK and anyway it would wear down a little and free up.

When I got back from the test drive I reached around and the tight brake was very hot. Not glowing hot but hot enough you could smell it. So I quickly jacked up the car and yanked like a mofo on the drum (wearing heavy gloves) and I finally got it off. Then I turned the star wheel back and started the job over. I think the drum being hot expanded it and that's what let me get it off when I couldn't do it before. I put the drum in the kitchen sink and sprinkled a tiny bit of water on it. It wasn't hot enough to sizzle the water so I doubt I did permanent damage. I haven't test driven the car since fixing my mistake but I think I'm OK.

The brake pedal and hand brake were much better but I definitely had a little scare. Be careful when you do yours not to get it too tight.
 
#26 · (Edited)
If you can get it on but can't get it off, then you pulled it off at an angle. It has to come out completely straight. If you pull one side harder than the other, it will bind and you'll have to wedge the opposite side with something. If you had measured the gap around the drum with a caliper, you would likely have seen that the drum was not being pulled off completely straight. I'm guessing based on your experience that you adjusted them a few clicks too far. Either way, it's good to know that you were able to successfully adjust them in the end. Don't worry, you didn't damage anything.

I guess I didn't make it clear enough in my writeup that you should only adjust a few clicks at a time, so I've updated the writeup to reflect that.
 
#27 ·
Use to see signs at full service gas stations, $1.50 to adjust your brakes. Correct way was to tighten them so the drum was locked, then back it off until you got a slight drag.

1930 Olds was tricky with all mechanical brakes, no equalizers, besides correct adjustment, had to play with that or else the car would swerve to the left or the right. Chrysler came out with hydraulic brakes, that solved that problem. But with one leak anywhere, would lose all of your brakes, thus the emergency brake. But no longer that, just a parking brake now.

In the 60's, didn't write these dates down, came out with the dual master cylinder, but at first separated the front wheels from the rear wheels. Was next to dead meat if you got a leak in the fronts, took them almost twenty years to figure that out. In around the 80's switched that to diagonally opposite wheels. Like LF and RR or RF and LR.

Then came ABS with a whole new set of problems, fist is bleeding, technically you need a GM Tech II scanner to do that, was only $5,600.00 at first, but they dropped the price to around 4,000 bucks, ****, at that cheap price and can buy a dozen. Due to liability reasons, no aftermarket scanners would touch ABS.

But all it was doing was electronically activating the ABS pump motor, that can be hot wired to do the same thing. Key problems are air pockets in the ABS. And with ABS, should change your still yet hygroscopic water absorbing brake fluid that creates an acid that can jam those high pulsing solenoid valves within the confines of the ABS module.

Strictly BS when they say ABS does not interfere with normal braking, true with some electronic problems, completely false with corroded valve problems. If a valve is locked closed, no brakes period to that wheel. These are not rebuildable, want you to buy a new one. Kind of cheap for the Cruze, only about 500 bucks.

Another minor inconvenience is with ABS, have four brake lines to rust out instead of one main line. ABS also highly depends upon your adjusters working properly. Can have the adjusters working perfectly on one side, terrible on the other.

What really teed me off with brake lines in the late 80's was the switch from the well proven double flare connection to that perfectly stupid idiotic bubble flare. What group of complete idiots came out with that, have to form a perfect sphere or get leaks and that already super thing brake line is even thinner. The only advantage I can see of it, is one operation instead of two, so here instead of using common sense and practically a hundred year old proven connector, come out with this piece of crap to make the stockholders happier.

If corroded, that bubble tears up to nothing so you have to replace the entire device and line.

Yet another is while the threads have remained the same, switched from English to metric nut sizes, still mixing them, so have no idea what they are using. With the addition of rust and just a few thousandths difference, can risk rounding that nut.

In several aspects, just going completely backwards. Next time you pull your drum, see if you can even move your shoes up and down and sideways. Reverse rotation causes the rear shoe to go down and the front shoe to go up that augments that pawl to go down one more click. Don't have to speculate, all common sense.
 
#48 ·
In the 60's, didn't write these dates down, came out with the dual master cylinder, but at first separated the front wheels from the rear wheels. Was next to dead meat if you got a leak in the fronts, took them almost twenty years to figure that out. In around the 80's switched that to diagonally opposite wheels. Like LF and RR or RF and LR...

...Another minor inconvenience is with ABS, have four brake lines to rust out instead of one main line.
Four individual brake lines was a result of the diagonally split braking system you previously mentioned. ABS had nothing to do with the diagonally split hydraulics.

Cars that offer ABS as an option usually have four lines coming out of the master cylinder going directly to the four wheels (without ABS), or those same four lines going to the ABS module and then four more going to the four wheels (with ABS).
 
#28 ·
Yeah, I was surprised that I could push the drum on by hand yet be unable to get it off by hand. It's pretty difficult to get it perfectly straight when you're yanking it off. It would have been a piece of cake if the Cruze brakes were designed like drum brakes of old, where the rubber plug in the backing plate gave you access to the star wheel.

Folks contemplating this project should weigh the risks and rewards. The actual stopping power of the car is not improved - only the brake pedal height and parking brake height are changed.

I test drove my car again after loosening the overly tight adjustment and I might be a little tight even now. During the test drive I had a deer run out in front of me and I hit the brakes fast enough to activate the brake assist system. The BAS briefly put full power into the brakes, which is how it's designed to work. I think I detected a change in the brake pedal feel after the incident but it might be my imagination. The pedal seemed higher and firmer, like possibly the self adjuster mechanism took up an extra click. When I got home I put my hands on both drums. Neither was hot enough to smell but the one that was too tight before is still hotter than the other side. I suspect I'm still a little tighter than I should be but I never checked the brake temperature before beginning this project and there is a downhill run that requires some braking as I approach my house. Maybe the brakes are just warm because the brakes were used.

I kind of wish I hadn't messed with attempting to manually adjust the brakes that aren't actually designed to be manipulated that way. Too bad GM didn't put an access plug in the backing plate for the star wheel.
 
#29 ·
This has me confused. You're saying stopping power is not improved, yet before the adjustment, you're getting significantly less actual contact with the rear brakes.

If you think the other side isn't adjusted correctly, then you should probably checked. I do think they're designed to be adjusted this way should someone choose to do it manually. I've never used heat as an indicator of how well my brakes are working. If you can spin it by hand and it spins absolutely freely, try adjusting it one or two clicks until you feel them catching very slightly. That little bit will wear down in no time and you'll have more even contact.

Do keep in mind that the rears are only designed to provide ~20% of the braking. Not everyone will notice it, but it's there nonetheless. If the pedal height and parking brake height have changed, there's a definite increase in braking power and stability. I suspect if you were taking a fast turn on the highway on or off ramp and had to slam on your brakes, you'd have a real problem on your hands if your rears were not doing almost any of the braking they should have been.

As for getting it perfectly straight when getting it off, it just requires some patience.
 
#30 ·
I thought about this some more. There is a rubber access plug on the backing plate but it is at approximately the 3:00 position on the left side brake viewing in the same direction as the photos above. In other words, it doesn't provide access to the star wheel, which is at roughly 12:00.

I suspect the rubber plug must be there to change the adjustment. Otherwise there would be no way for a mechanic to remove the drum on a high mileage car. When drum brake cars get high miles they wear down the brake drum and develop a lip on inside edge where the brake shoes don't touch. Over time the shoes are projecting deeper into the drum and you can't get the drum off until you slack off a bunch on the adjustment.

Maybe somebody who has access to a shop manual can check this out. I'm not asking for a copyright infringement cut & paste but only a confirmation about the function of the rubber plug and access hole.
 
#31 ·
I pulled the rubber plug and looked inside with a flashlight. If there's a way to adjust the brakes through this opening I don't understand how to do it. It looks like there is a little pin that could be depressed and that would permit part of the self adjusting mechanism to move on it's pivot. I left it alone, which is probably good seeing how I had so much trouble with a job that everybody else finds very easy.

 
#32 ·
Shop manual isn't much help, no special brake adjustment tool like you would find for the Saturn. Just says to remove the drum, turn the adjustment screw all the way in to the shortest dimension. Put the drum and wheel back on, get in the car and step on the brake pedal until the pedal comes up.

See they have yet another special tool for the rear disk brakes. What's wrong with the tool I already have? Just had to change the piston configuration just enough so you have to buy a new tool.

Same thing with the AC compressor clutch plate removal, already have four different ones, Cruze requires a fifth. Just subtle changes.
 
#34 ·
Just read this thread, good info. One thing I always do when adjusting rear brakes is pull up on the park brake several times after I've adjusted the brakes and go back and re-check drag. You may be feeling drag that is caused by the shoes moving up or down on the backing plate, not by the adjustment itself. Applying the park brake will center the shoes in the drum so you get a better feel for the ammount of drag you have on the drum.
 
#36 ·
i will be getting this done with my next oil change (this week). my ebrake has felt weak from day one... i actually took it to my dealer and was told the more times the e-bake is set the tigther it should be, 10500mi later still not confident leaving it in my driveway with out leaving her in gear.

maybe a good lube up is in order as well...
 
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