Reaer brake expert wanted

Almost sounds like the backing plate was replaced at one time, and the
replacement unit was for the opposite side.

 

Car- 90 Caravan CV - cargo

The parking brake cable on the passenger side runs though a cable housing
and enters the rear wheel from the rear rather than the front of the wheel.
To install brake shoes, the secondary lining of the right side must be
toward the front of the car and left side self adjusting hardware must be
used on both sides.

1. How did my van get this way?
2. If the car was modified in this way, will self adjusting work with
fraont and back reversed on the right side?

 

Sounds as if someone replaced the RH backing plate with a LH backing
plate.

Probably not.

DS

 

Hmm....

Someone got creative it looks like.

The self adjusters are only supposed to click when you hit the brakes in
reverse.

Yours has one trying to adjust every time you hit the brakes.

This will wear out the adjuster pretty fast and then the one wheel will
stop adjusting.

No real big deal. When it stops adjusting, the emergency brake will
fast start to move a bunch more before it comes up tight and the brake
pedal will drop a little before it comes up hard. You then can go and
pull out the rubber grommet on the backing plate and adjust it back up
with a screwdriver or brake tool.

You should only need to do this every 2 or 3 months depending on your
use.

Or you can spend a bunch of money and have a real right side put in.

Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

 

That's about what I thought. But, if the adjuster will click whenever the
brakes are applied, won't the brake get set way too tight? I guess I'll
need to jack up the wheel and see if the brake on that wheel rubs too much.
I imagine i could get a new wheel plate reasonable from a scrap yard.
However, breaking those bolts loose is a tough assignment for an amature
mechanic.

 

Yes, it can be a pain changing off a rusty backing plate. However,
brakes aren't something to cut corners on. I'd suggest taking the van
to a competent garage and having them put the proper backing plate on
and get the parking brake set up properly again.


Matt

 

Once the brakes are adjusted up, the adjuster just slips over the star
wheel so it won't over adjust them.

This slipping or popping over the star wheel is where I was figuring the
adjuster itself would wear out from over use.

Mike

 

At 12/6/03 08:18, AHoudini's monkeys randomly typed:

The adjuster is applied, but that doesn't mean it will actually
tighten up the brakes unless they are loose enough to allow it.

 

GAA! The others mean well but are not familar with your car. The cable
entering from the rear is a common design on many cars. Simplifies
part numbers that manufactures have to design/carry/stock.
If you look closely at the brake shoes you will see that there is the
same number of holes in each shoe, and in the same locations. You
will mount your secondary shoe on the rear on both sides of the car.
The parking brake linkage will mount on the primary shoe on the right
side. Placing the secondary shoe on the front side (facing front)
will reduce your stopping effort on that wheel. The secondary is
larger because it does more work. Reversing the installation will make
the smaller primary shoe work harder.

 

You must have the right answer because the installation of the parking brake
cable on the right side looks like a factory job rather than a hack job.
Looks like it's been that way a long time too. The emergency brake has good
stopping power as well.
On the other hand, it doesn't make sense to make cars this way for economic
reasons unless the ship carrying right wheel parts was held up and stopped
the assembly line at Chrysler.
I note that every imaginable cost saving measure was employed in making
cargo vans for business, but this special right wheel hook-up would be an
added expense. The SDC telephone company would have had a large fleet to
maintain. I don't know that using only left wheel brake adjusters would be
really helpful.

 

Of course he's right.
Where is it written that the parking brake can be of only one
configuration, i.e., the cable enters the baking plate from the
front and is connected to only the rear shoe?

Why wouldn't it?

It makes plenty of sense. One part number instead of two.
Aftermarket replacement backing plates come with knock-out blanks
for where the parking brake cable enters the assembly.

Or quite possibly it achieves a parking brake that is equally as
effective in forward motion as it is in rearward motion.

Sorry, I don't see where "brake adjusters" enter into this...

The brake apply lever is mounted on the forward shoe on the right
side assembly instead of the rear shoe, what's the big deal?