rear drum brake shoes replaced- are they working???

Hi there

E28 520i 1985

I replaced my rear drum brake SHOES and all went well ... but when doing
a hard braking test, only the front wheels lock up.
Is this normal? Of course I should have done a before and after test and
now I can't remember, but they did seem to be better before (but
squealy- have replaced front pads and discs too). I did bed them in for
a few mins driving with brakes on down hill.
I did test the brakes with each wheel jacked up, so I know they do work
individually.
My real question is about the "thermo adjuster" which (somehow) turns
the adjuster nut and makes the shoes more in contact with the drums. My
Hanes manual said to back these off to minimum before reassembling. Is
this right? Wouldn't it make more sense to adjust them to "nearly
touching" the drums- or does the "thermo adjuster" do that (by magic)

Jom
Sydney
Australia

jom wrote:
> Hi there
>
> E28 520i 1985
>
> I replaced my rear drum brake SHOES and all went well ... but when doing
> a hard braking test, only the front wheels lock up.
> Is this normal? Of course I should have done a before and after test and
> now I can't remember, but they did seem to be better before (but
> squealy- have replaced front pads and discs too). I did bed them in for
> a few mins driving with brakes on down hill.
> I did test the brakes with each wheel jacked up, so I know they do work
> individually.
> My real question is about the "thermo adjuster" which (somehow) turns
> the adjuster nut and makes the shoes more in contact with the drums. My
> Hanes manual said to back these off to minimum before reassembling. Is
> this right? Wouldn't it make more sense to adjust them to "nearly
> touching" the drums- or does the "thermo adjuster" do that (by magic)
>

Well, test them to see if they've adjusted up. ...by jacking the car
and lightly applying the brake. I guess they'll affect the handbrake
travel too.

jom wrote:
> Hi there
>
> E28 520i 1985
>
> I replaced my rear drum brake SHOES and all went well ... but when doing
> a hard braking test, only the front wheels lock up.
> Is this normal?

Yes, it is normal. In fact it is *preferable*. If your front wheels
lock, you can't steer, but you slide straight ahead. If your rear
wheels lock up, you spin the car and slide rear end first.
--
C.R. Krieger
1988 535is
'Da Red Dog'

On 3 Jan 2007 11:20:40 -0800, "E28 Guy©" > waffled
on about something:

>jom wrote:
>> Hi there
>>
>> E28 520i 1985
>>
>> I replaced my rear drum brake SHOES and all went well ... but when doing
>> a hard braking test, only the front wheels lock up.
>> Is this normal?
>
>Yes, it is normal. In fact it is *preferable*. If your front wheels
>lock, you can't steer, but you slide straight ahead. If your rear
>wheels lock up, you spin the car and slide rear end first.

Speak for yourself! I'd rather go through the brick wall backwards
than forwards any day of the week! Assuming of course you *had* to go
through the wall in the first place!

Dodgy.
--
MUSHROOMS ARE THE OPIATE OF THE MOOSES

In article >,
Dodgy > wrote:
> Speak for yourself! I'd rather go through the brick wall backwards
> than forwards any day of the week! Assuming of course you *had* to go
> through the wall in the first place!

No airbags?

--
*"I am " is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dodgy" > wrote in message
...
> On 3 Jan 2007 11:20:40 -0800, "E28 Guy©" > waffled
> on about something:
>
>>jom wrote:
>>> Hi there
>>>
>>> E28 520i 1985
>>>
>>> I replaced my rear drum brake SHOES and all went well ... but when doing
>>> a hard braking test, only the front wheels lock up.
>>> Is this normal?
>>
>>Yes, it is normal. In fact it is *preferable*. If your front wheels
>>lock, you can't steer, but you slide straight ahead. If your rear
>>wheels lock up, you spin the car and slide rear end first.
>
> Speak for yourself! I'd rather go through the brick wall backwards
> than forwards any day of the week! Assuming of course you *had* to go
> through the wall in the first place!
>
> Dodgy.
> --
in the absence of ABS...
Yes but if the front wheels lock and it slides, you can ease off and quickly
regain control [and probably miss the wall]. OTOH if the back wheels lock
and it spins, then you are almost certainly going to hit something.

> No airbags?

no, it's a 1985

anyway the rear shoes seem fine now- BUT the front discs are squealing.
I recently replaced the pads, and the discs about 6 months ago cause
they were vibrating through the pedal when braking from 60 mph.

That problem has developed again, luckily there are some excellent
websites on the subject, such as...

http://www.garageboy.com/bmw/brakefaq.html#parts

ya gotta keep yer greasy fingers orf the brake bits