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doing my rear brakes today,

im not quite understanding the adjustment bar that goes between the two shoes....it can screw in and out....what position should this be set at after i have everything installed??

 
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loose enough for the the drum to slide on with a minimal amount of force, not too tight so the drum wont go on and not too loose where no effort is needed to put the drum on. try to make both sides as even as possible

 
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thanks....does this adjustment move itself as the brakes wear? or is it a permanent setting?

just by looking at it, it seems like it mostly has something to do with the parking/e-brake?

 
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it's supposed to self adjust, you can help it by going in reverse at a decent clip and applying the brakes firmly, repeat 3 or 4 times.

 
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why reverse?

 
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that way the rear brakes are actually doing most of the work to stop the car, when you're going forwards the rear brakes only do like 20% of the work to stop the car

 
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so its better to leave it adjusted a bit too loose rather then too tight, and it will snug itself up on its own?

 
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Personally i would err to the looser side and then do the reverse braking thing. If you check youtube i think eric the car guy has a pretty good drum brake video, it might even be on a honda

 
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thanks.....thats what i was thinking too

have done a crap load of disc brake jobs over the years, can whip those off in 30 mins to an hour, but its probably been about 20 years since i did drums, needed a bit of a refresher

 
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Haha i know the feeling, took the rear brakes apart on my girlfriend's car to replace the parking brake cables and it had been about 10 years since i took apart drums.

 
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one more question.......

when i removed the old shoes, the rubber seal around one of the pistons came off and a bit of brake fluid came out, i put the seal back in place no problem,

does that mean that brake needs to be bled now?
or should it be okay?

 
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you could try bleeding but i think that might actually be seepage from the wheel cylinder.
random google image:




the black rubber boot is what popped off?
its just a dust shield to prevent stuff from messing up the actual seal. Might want to check the other wheel cylinder and see how its doing. are they original? may be time to replace those as well

 
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yeah the black boot came off that seals around the piston, there are two of them but only one came off, a bit of fluid leaked out, and i popped it back on

 
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Only concern is how long it took for that fluid to weep into that void. Was it a decade or a week?

Consider pulling back that boot in a few weeks and seeing if more has fluid built up. If it does then replace / rebuild the caliper.

 
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this is the first time the rear brakes have been serviced....so it took 12 years....im the original owner

 
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I'd still check the boots in a couple weeks to see if there's any fluid. It may have only started leaking recently

 
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just took it around the block, pedal is a bit spongy

you think it will firm up over a bit of time?

i really dont feel like bleeding brakes in this weather

 
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How loose were the shoes?
Try the reverse trick yet? it may help
Or you may be stuck bleeding, the hand vacuum pump makes it way quicker

 
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i went with too loose rather then too tight,

i guess i will give it a few days and see,

my wife mainly drives this car, thats the problem, you can't explain to a woman why the pedal might be soft for a day or two

 
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Haha, yep.
I have a 2 x 4 holding up a window in the girlfriend's car until the regulator shows up. That took some explaining, and now I'm driving the car until I fix it.

 
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I think i messed up when i opened the rear brakes and it was spongy for some days, but it went back. But since wife, I would bleed if not OK after two days? (hope nothing happens during that time...)

 
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so yours went back to normal after a few days of driving?

 
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yep, not sure what the issue was, though...

 
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Ugh...looks like im going to have to bleed this,

havn't bled brakes in years...any suggestions on a "one man" bleeding tool/kit to make things easier?

im old school and used to do it the standard way,

also, is generic brake fluid okay?

im concerned the bleeder valve will be seized and snap off after all these years

 
Rep Power: 222

i just use generic dot 3 brake fluid, i bought the vacuum pump/one man bleeder from canadian tire. Line wrenches and penetrating fluid are a good idea as well.

As for the bleeder you could be right, soaking it in penetrating fluid for a couple days before you try to open it. You can bleed at the fitting as well, its not ideal but it can work. Or starting the work when the parts stores are still open is also a good idea.

 
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I would suggest replacing as much of that 12yr old brake fluid as you can.

If you have loosened up the bleeder, might as well pump 1/2 small bottle of fluid per wheel to replace the old.

 
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mine is the pump type, paired with speed bleeders