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Thu Jul 14, 2011 11:38 am

70 with drums all the way around. Found the adjustment stars. Can move them both. So is it clockwise or counter clockwise to wind 'em up? Can make it in from the rear so I'm curious if they are opposed or if the threads are the same from my perspective both top and bottom.

Thu Jul 14, 2011 11:52 am

all adjusters are right hand thread,so clockwise to tighten brakes,counterclockwise to loosen

Thu Jul 14, 2011 12:04 pm

Just to add a little more... if you're under the car, looking at the back of the brake backing plate... to tighten the shoes against the drum, the splines on the star in the left hole need to go down, the splines in the right hole need to go up.

Thu Jul 14, 2011 12:06 pm

My holes are in a line up and down but thank you all!

Thu Jul 14, 2011 4:13 pm

zazumontana70 wrote: My holes are in a line up and down but thank you all!

ya might wanna see a doctor,get that looked at...

Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:01 pm

zazumontana70 wrote: My holes are in a line up and down but thank you all!

:? I thought only super front brakes were like that :?

Thu Jul 14, 2011 7:31 pm

Well if you keep rotating them one directions and get not drag on the wheel turn it the other way till you do. They are lefty loosy and righty tighty.

Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:01 pm

gt1953 wrote: Well if you keep rotating them one directions and get not drag on the wheel turn it the other way till you do. They are lefty loosy and righty tighty.

:roll:

proper brake adjustment:

1. Turn the adjustment star clockwise,continue rotating till it locks the wheel from spinning and you cant easily turn the adjusting star.

2.Turn the adjuster counterclockwise till the wheel spins free.

3.Turn the adjuster clockwise till a slight drag is felt.

Locking the wheel first centers the shoe in the drum,enabling an accurate adjustment.

Fri Jul 15, 2011 8:39 am

The fun part about righty tightly, lefty loosey is that the two star wheels for each brake go in oposite directions. And once you are lying under the car, you completely forget the picture in your mind of which star wheel is the one that gets turned which direction.

I finally got smart and scratched an arrow into the backing plate that would remind me which way to make it tighter for each star wheel.

Sat Jul 16, 2011 9:29 am

If you can remember tighter

Sat Jul 16, 2011 10:04 am

I took a flashlight and looked at the threads and could then easily tell which way I had to go..

Sat Jul 16, 2011 10:13 am

When I'm underneath, looking at the backplate, rear, front, standard or Super:

I imagine the star wheel as the head of a bolt that screws into the center assembly. Then I turn that star wheel/"bolt head" as if I'm trying to screw that INTO that ceneter assembly, which expands the threaded part out to tighten the adjustment. It has always worked for me.

Remember with front brakes that you always have the option of turning the wheels/steering wheel to one side or the other to increase the room down there.

Sat Jul 16, 2011 10:36 pm

The way I remember:

The slotted brake shoe bolt...

... screws into the brake shoe adjuster... in the normal RH manner.

The slotted bolt goes between the adjuster and the shoe.

To tighten the shoes, the slotted "bolts" need to extend or screw OUT of the adjusters (the adjusters are like a nut)... this is the same as if I was trying to unscrew the adjuster off the bolts.

So if I need to extend the "stationary bolt", I need to rotate the "nut" in the proper direction as if taking them off the bolt.

Sun Jul 17, 2011 8:40 am

/\
Understanding the system is the key. No need for double thinking and whatever. It's a nut acting on a bolt. (agreed with above post)

Sun Jul 17, 2011 9:10 am

If both were right hand threads
Looking at this picture –looking at the left side --protruding the adjuster through the backing plate to the adjuster - - one would push the adjusting tool up to get the right hand nut to travel outward for tightening
Looking at the right side- you would push the adjusting tool up- to get the nut to move the bolt outward for tightening
As you can tell I had to remove mine and soak it and free it

Does anyone have a conversion for a self adjusting nut?

Sun Jul 17, 2011 9:23 am

the shoes adjust independently,it would be hard to make a self adjuster...besides,like most self adjusters it probably wouldnt work..

After being around here for awhile its not incomprehensible that there are people who dont grasp the concept of right hand pitch threads,without which a car wouldnt exist...

Sun Jul 17, 2011 9:39 am

I am not a brake man for sure -- but I have a hard time believing that someone couldn't take some other make of car,( rear self adjusting brake mechanism), and either produce it for our vw's or at least adapt it to our configuration.

I have searched this extensively and no one has attempted this to date that I know of !

Jerry

Sun Jul 17, 2011 9:49 am

This is from 1966 but here you go, direct from the owners manual:

Sun Jul 17, 2011 10:11 am

There he goes,posting facts.... :roll:

Sun Jul 17, 2011 10:14 am

then one of the nuts are left handed threads