'79 620 Rear Drum Locking Up. Grrr..

[hooptylife]

Hello, i've been tearing into the brake system on my datsun for the past month. Its been a classic case of start fixing one thing and find several more problems in the process.

Tonight i rebuilt the master cylinder and finally got the pressure needed to bleed all four brakes. Pretty confident that thing is solid; however, its all coming back apart Friday to fix a pesky leak.

My major issue now is the passenger rear drum: for some reason its totally locked up. Everything (shoes, springs, etc.) have been disassembled and cleaned and the adjuster was lubed up so it slides back and forth smoothly.

But when I try to put the drum back on, its very difficult to squeeze over the shoes and nothing turns once i finally work it all the way on.

 

Just spent a couple hours comparing it to the opposite side and trying to decipher where the issue lies, but i don't see anything bent, broken,worn, or assembled wrong.

Would worn shoes or a warped drum cause this? Wouldn't that have been noticable two months ago when i was driving around?

 

Any help, any ideas greatly appreciated!

[flatcat19]

Turn your drums.

[datzenmike]

Turn the adjuster (star wheel) out to retract the shoes.. It's accessed behind the backing plate at the bottom where the oval rubber cover is. Or, if you get the drum off you can get to it directly

[banzai510(hainz)]

what MIke said. New pads are big so you need to retrack the Star wheel

[hooptylife]

flatcat19 I was thinking that might be it.

 

datzenmike, the adjuster on that wheel is tightened all the way in. Looks to me like that should bring the pads as far in as possible, maximizing the clearence of the drum when i try to fit it on. However, the issue persists.

 

Firgot to mention earlier, at times i can get the fully assembled drum and hub to spin in the reverse direction, but it literally clunks to a dead halt when i try to spin it forward (or with the wheel on, push the truck fwd).

 

So getting the drums turned sounds like my next course of action. Anything else i can try gents?

[datzenmike]

Do you have the leading and trailing shoes reversed?

 

 

Front of vehicle this side.

[hooptylife]

Hm. The pads on my shoes aren't placed like that. If I'm not mistaken, they both look like the one on the right in your picture (the rear shoe). I know i compared the two shoes from one side after reading a thread here on ratsun, and both of mine are identical.

[hooptylife]

Okay, problem is resolved. Turned out to be something really simple: the e-brake cable is broken and the slightest push or tug on the housing of the cable caused the brake to engage.

[datzenmike]

Never even considered this. One for the books.