Skip to main content
Gerry | Vanagon
Checking account...
← vanagon.com home · Continue the discussion in the forum
Subject:Re: another brake saga
From:Mike S
Date:Mon, 23 Mar 2009 22:51:55 -0400

At 10:01 PM 3/23/2009, neil N wrote...
>Obviously the reason the RH piston travels before LH piston is due
>this gap. The RH shoe is not returning properly.

You can't tell by how it behaves with the drum off. There's enough
friction in the system that it would be nigh impossible for both shoes
to return equally. As long as you can push the "other" piston in by
hand (i.e. it's not frozen), there's no problem.

You just need to turn the star adjuster so it's just starting to drag
significantly (pushing the brakes between adjustments to center
everything), then backing off maybe 1 click. Properly adjusted, there
will always be a tiny bit of drag. The shoes will then equalize
themselves.