-----Original Message----- From: Pirtle, John [mailto:John.Pirtle@ceridian.com] Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2000 1:23 PM To: 928 Subject: [928] parking brake adjustment?? Okay, I'm following Wally's directions from the 928OC tips. 87 Auto rear end in the air, wheels off, looking at the rotor. Here's where I am: "... 3) Peer thru the hole in the face of the disc and locate the star adjuster - it will be at the back, I think. It will look like a small cog wheel. Insert a flat-blade screwdriver thru the hole and tighten the adjuster until you can't turn the disc, then back it off until you can just turn the disc freely, then back off two more notches. (If you simply can't figure out what to do, you can take the rear disc off, but that is a lot of extra work.) ..." My little Maglite can't find any sort of adjusting screw. I see some springs.... I really hate to fuss with those philips head screws to take the rotor off, so what should I be looking for? towards the front or rear of the car? Thanks John Pirtle Atlanta 87 Auto (currently with worthless parking brakes) From: Dan Larson [danlarson@rennlist.com] Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2000 3:05 PM To: John Pirtle Cc: 928@rennlist.com Subject: RE: [928] parking brake adjustment?? The adjuster will be between the 2 brake shoes at one end, there will be a spring next to it on the inside of it holding tension against it, the cogged adjusting wheel will be closer to one end than the other, the adjuster is a 3 piece threaded deal and the star or cog part is a nut that makes it longer to adjust the height of the shoes inside the drum part of the disk. Dan Larson 1984 928S From: RPierce894@aol.com Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2000 2:46 PM To: john.pirtle@ceridian.com Subject: Re: [928] parking brake adjustment?? Hi John, What your looking for is a small toothed wheel (star adjuster) with a bar through the center. The flat blade is inserted through the hole into the teeth and leveraged against the side of the access hole to adjust. It has to be turned the right way or the problem will get worse. By turning the wheel (attatched to what is really a threaded two piece spacer) you are taking up the slack caused by loss of brake shoe liner material. This is how it works on all the brakes I've ever worked on. Never had to adjust my 928 parking brake (yet) hope that helps...good luck Rich Pierce From: Dan [dbrindle@kondratyev.com] Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2000 3:23 PM To: John Pirtle Subject: RE: [928] parking brake adjustment?? John, The emergency brakes are the same as band brakes on an American car. There should be a hole on in the rotor and hub to allow access as described. These rarely need adjusting and are only worn down by driving with the Emergency Brake on. If you think they are out of adjustment it would be a good idea to pull the rotors on both sides and inspect the bands. The brake lining material is fairly thin and the brakes small so it is easy to wear one side or the other down. I would not settle for looking at one side alone as I found on one of the cars I took apart one side to be perfect and the other with metal to metal. To inspect them you will need more than a Phillips to remove the rotor you will also have to back the caliper off. These are a good thing to have up and working as the design is strong enough to actually stop the car from a good speed in the event of brake failure. Hope this helps. If you get to the point of finding bad linings let me know and I will give you some tips on changing them - it is not the most straight forward job. Dan Brindle From: Wally Plumley [wplumley@bellsouth.net] Sent: Saturday, August 19, 2000 6:45 PM To: John Pirtle Subject: Re: [928] parking brake adjustment?? John, You aren't looking for a screw. What you are looking for is an edge view of a cog wheel. You use the flat-blade screwdriver to pry the near edge of the wheel up or down to turn it. Different description, same gadget: There is a fine-threaded screw that is mounted so that it runs fore and aft inside the parking brake drum. Mounted on this screw like a nut is a 1" sheet metal gear. you pry on the gear teeth thru the slot to turn the gear and adjust the brake shoes. If you have never seen this on an older car, and you can't visualize it, you would probably be better off either taking it apart to see what it looks like - and to check the condition of the brake shoes - or else just leave it alone. Wally From: Scott Smith [Scott.Smith@occ.treas.gov] Sent: Monday, August 21, 2000 12:18 PM To: 928 Subject: [928] Re: parking brake adjustment?? John, I just replaced my emergency brake pads this weekend. I also have an '87. The adjustment stars are just above the 3 o'clock position as you are looking at the disk. I would recommend taking the hub off. My phillips head screws came off with a few taps of an impact driver. I didn't try too hard with the the standard phillips screwdriver. After I got the two screws out I made a trip to the store to pick up two 8MM bolts to thread into the disk, since I couldn't pop the disk off with a mallet. My car has 94K and the shoes were toast. Someone may have driven with the emergency brake on. I put new shoes on and loosened up the brake lever to its maximum. Center the shoe assembly and put the disk back on. Adjust as necessary. I've got one click to catch and three to hold. The book says two to catch and 4 to hold but my wheels turn freely with the brake off and a little use will bring it to book spec. If you want to just adjust the brake remember the star which is in a horizontal plane (like a properller head's properller) turn clockwise looking at it from the bottom. This means that you will turn the star to the back on the right rear and to the front on the left rear. IMHO take it apart and make sure it is right. It is well worth the time. SWS Still Fred's red '87 5sp '81 Silver 5sp