What is the procedure to adjust the rear brakes (drums) on a full size 93 Blazer 4x4 when there are no slots in the back of either the left or rightbrake plates to access the adjustment wheel. None of the repair manuals (Haynes, Chilton, etc.) reference how to make an adjustment without these access holes. Has anyone else had this problem??

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

did you happen to notice any oval holes on the drums themselves??

 

adjust them up making sure the drum will still pull off with out having to pry or hammer on the drum, Put the tires back on and back up a few times slaming on and off the brakes, The self adjusters should take it from there.

 

these brakes are self adjusting dont get theme to tight because you need a little play drive in revers for shot distances braking fequintly putin drive drive forward repeat the reverse precedure one or too time s you should be good

 

The drums have no access holes either. I will try the reverse-self adjusting method and see how that works. When I've tried that way in the past, the front disc brakesseem to grab first and the front tires squeal (sp??) and skid. Doesn't seem to tighten up the rear. I'll take the rear ones off and clean everything up again and give it another try.

Geez, I'm so use to having a method to adjust them up manually that this is really a new experience. Oh well, live and learn.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and help.

 

The best way that I have found, with or without self adjusters, is to take off the tire, then remove the drum. Adjust the brakes so that the drum slides on with just a little play. Adjust the brakes out so that they almost touch the drum, but not quite. If you can jack up the whole axle, have someone turn the other side tire and listen if you can hear the brakes rubbing, if so, they are too tight. If not, and you don't think that you can adjust them anymore without them touching, then you are good.

Self adjusting are good, but I find it better to get in there and do it manually. Besides, this gives you time to inspect the wheel cylinders, springs, and other components while you are in there.

 

I replaced the rear wheel cylinders on my '91 S10 Blazer 4WD two days ago. I also installed new self adjusting levers, adjusters, and all new springs. I replaced the shoes about a month ago but I did not feel comfortable about the OEM hardware.

I realize that the front pads do 85% of the stopping and the rear brakes only stabilize the vehicle. However, theold shoes I replaceddid not have very muchwear compared to the front disc brake pads. I don't feel likethe rear drum brakeswere doing any more than 5% of the stopping. I do not feel veryconfident of the "self adjustment" featureandI don't see how it can work effectively. That iswhy the factory introduceddisc brakes on the rear axles.

The theory is that when you back up and apply the brakes, the brake shoes moveout against the drum in aservo action and the self adjustment lever is pushed down and turns thestar wheel of the adjuster. When you get off the brakes, the lever is supposed to move back up again and catch another notch of the star wheel.GM has hadrear brake self adjusters as far back as I know and did not put self adjusters on the front drum brakes. Even with the self adjustment rear brakes,they putadjustment slots in the rear backing plates except for thefew years before rear disc brakes were introducted........why did they eliminate the adjustment slots in the rear brake backing plates and then introduce rear disc brakes? Go figure.

I don't want to even try to figure out how 4-wheelABS works on the rear "self-adjusting" rear drum brakes thatseem to have nowear. I think the previous entry is correct...you should occasionally remove the rear drums and check and adjust the reardrum brakes manually.

Dorman hasneat two-piece rear backing plates that has rear drum brake adjustment slots in them.Since they aretwo-piece backing plates, you can remove them without removing the C-clip and the axle shaft but you still have to remove the C-clips and axles for the initial installation of the two-piece backing plates. If you have the axles out for any reason,that wouldbe a good time to install the Dorman two-piece drum brake backing plates.