Chumley

Viewed this tutorial a few weeks ago, now it has disappeared. At least the link does not work for me. Did it get moved?

oldcutlass

Don't know, the pictures got deleted somehow.

VI Cutty

The tutorial on this page http://www.handymanlyness.com/archiv..._96_Yukon.html is nearly identical and should help you along.

Macadoo

Yup, I've used the tute that Cutty shared. It's pretty good.
If the OP used photobucket, or the like, and the account got cancelled...poof, no more pics. That'll happen to my threads if my account gets cancelled too.

Chumley

Link to the Yukon brake job very useful, however no mention of how parking brake cable is attached to the lever inside backing plate. Is this easy to disassemble when taking things apart? Its been over 40 years since I last did this.

joe_padavano

This isn't normally disassembled during a brake job. Are you taking it apart for another reason? In any case, you need to compress the spring on the cable. There are special pliers for this job. Once the spring is compressed, you can maneuver the swaged end of the cable out of the slot in the arm.

Note that the Olds brakes have some differences from those in the tutorial. The e-brake arm just hooks into the rear shoe - there is no e-clip as used on the Yukon. Also, I've never had to go through the process of swaging the bushing to hold the self adjusting lever onto the rear shoe. I simply hold all those parts togther and install the spring. Yeah, it takes a little dexterity (or three or four hands), but you don't need to do any swaging.

Chumley

Thanks, I've been doing some you tubing and think I have it down. All I'm doing is replacing shoes and wheel cylinders. I forgot that the parking brake lever just hangs there while doing the rest of the stuff. At my age, I just needed a confidence booster. Thanks

Chumley

Good to see the tutorial back. I finished rear passenger side yesterday. Only problem when I finished was the adjuster lever does not engage star wheel teeth. VERY close, but not enough to engage. Maybe 1/16 " short. I didn't notice if it contacted before, and I know the lever can get bent and/or the teeth on the wheel can wear. Is this something I should address now( I really hate the thought of taking it all apart again) or can I just manually adjust the brakes every so often. Will the adjuster move around with braking, or will it stay where I adjust it? Also does the parking brake lever attach at the bottom of the rear shoe as well as that notch in the top of the shoe? No mention made in any of the tutorials Ive seen about this. Also replaced wheel cylinder. One tip, make sure the pistons move freely in the bore before installing. Mine were sort of stuck and would not depress when getting top of shoes around anchor pin. Also the whole spring issue makes sense now that I've done it. The old holddown springs were of the same length. The front was tapered, as was the new one, but it was about 1/4 " longer. I used it as it compressed easily, and I wanted a new spring there. Don't know why that one is tapered, but I guess GM knew what it was doing.

MDchanic

Ho boy. These things can be a bear to explain in words, when it's so easy to explain if it's right in front of you.
Can't wait 'till the interwebs fix that.

The adjuster lever should contact and press against the adjuster wheel. It should be firmly pressed against the wheel by spring pressure. If it's not, there's something wrong - something not quite clicked in or lined up.

Yes, you could adjust the brakes manually, but without the adjuster pressing against the wheel, I suppose it could un-screw.

As far as replacing the wheel, I'd just do it. They're cheap and very available, and they do tend to wear and not work as well as they should.

May as well do it once and be done with it.

- Eric

Chumley

I don't know how things could not line up, I'm certain everything is put back correctly, springs in correct location attached to correct points. I assume I can just replace the adjuster screw without tearing everything apart again. The right rear brake was a mess, major leak in wheel cylinder, everything was soaked. What spring exactly holds the adjuster lever against the star wheel? Apparently its not doing its job or like I said before, maybe the parts are just worn. I'm doing the driver side tomorrow, I'll check before this time to see if adjuster and lever are working. Thanks

MDchanic

If memory is correct, the force of the spring fastener that holds the rear shoe to the backing plate presses the adjuster arm against the adjuster wheel, as it holds the adjuster arm in place against the rear shoe rib and provides a pivot point for the arm.

- Eric