Best way to manually adjust rear shoes

[Docbooze]

Rear brakes on my saxo are fairly lousy. Just fitted new rear shoes but I just replaced the drum with the self adjusters backed off , did this so I could get the drum on easier and its what it says to do in Haynes. The adjuster type setup on these are fairly well known for being crap so if you manually set them up say a couple of clicks on the adjuster to push the shoes out and manage to get the drum back on , is there any way to adjust them once the drum is on to get them even closer like you can with the star adjuster type.


Cheers for any advice !

[saxo-parts]

adjust them out with a small screwdriver in the ratchet and try the drum back on, its trial and error till you get it right. standard practice on most cars with self adjusting shoes if you want a decent handbrake especially old escorts and mondeos

[saxokid100]

Originally Posted by mandyslover70

adjust them out with a small screwdriver in the ratchet and try the drum back on, its trial and error till you get it right. standard practice on most cars with self adjusting shoes if you want a decent handbrake especially old escorts and mondeos

agree........

[Docbooze]

Cheers , sounds like good advice. How fiddly is it with the screwdriver method as there's a fair bit of pressure on the ratchet. Could you very slowly depress the brake with the drum off and push the shoes out that way a couple of clicks.

[saxo-parts]

you need one screwdriver to open the ratchet a wee bit and another to spread the shoes, its a bit fiddly but once you've done it a few times it gets easier

[Docbooze]

Trial and error is the key phrase here !

Got them done today , took about an hour. I found that slowly depressing the brake with the drum off is not a bad method as you clearly hear a click as the drum moves outward a notch on the ratchet.
Dunno if my self adjusters are crap but seems you get one side just perfect (i.e very slight binding when turning wheel by hand) but after you drive it round the block the shoes have settled /centered and you need to move them out another click or so.
Finally got both sides more or less equal with a slight resistance when turning the wheels which I reckon is about right as I've read that they shouldn't really "freewheel".
The handbrake holds the car well at 2 clicks so the shoes must be really close tothe drum which is what i wanted.

Cheers

[Alexa]

I don't know if my break shoe is with automatic adjustment or not,do I have to use it or is it just an option?Can I use kit with out automatic adjustment ?