JoeMakesUVOs
Newbie
LOL, yeah on the adjuster assembly not being a part of the brake hardware kit, the parts gods have deemed it to be a different part of the brake assembly on the majority of drum brakes out there, because it technically isn't involved with holding the brake shoes to the backing plate. Glad to hear that you decided to put new shoes on as well, and although by what I saw in your pics, the shoes appeared to be OK and could possibly been fine for reuse. But since you spied cracking, and you also have/had wheel cylinder/brake shoe adjuster issues along with the wheel cylinder rebop, a definite wise choice to go ahead and replace the shoes as well. Hopefully you took each brake apart (separately!) and did some cleaning to the brake baking plate to get rid of brake dust, brake fluid, and oily contaminants as well. I also use this opportunity to clean the back of the axle flange & axle seal to make sure nobody is leaking as ANY fluid contamination (Brake fluid or gear oil out of the diff) getting on the shoes will adversely affect the brakes, and you get to get right back into the drums to fix it...
And, back on the adjuster subject - The part you have circled is the slip washer that fits on the cad plated, (lowest part in the adjuster part picture, in a "goldish" color) adjuster fork, (note the notch in the part) and its job is to give the adjuster wheel (the "star" looking notched & threaded wheel) the ability to spin on the other, threaded adjuster (zinc plated) without binding against the unthreaded adjuster fork, and allow the two forks to spread the brake shoes out as needed to keep the adjustment correct to the drum. The tang/notch of the two pieces is so the slip washer doesn't spin around, but I think it'll be OK if it does, because if it does spin, it'll eventually find a place to bind itself at, probably on the brake shoe. I definitely recommend a little bit of lube on it (I usually use some anti-sieze compound, but DO NOT let that stuff get all over the place, which it can certainly do if you get it on your hands, fingers, or shop rags...) And lastly, don't forget going forward (provided the brakes bleed out correctly, and I'm sure they will this time) to occasionally USE THE EMERGENCY BRAKE (just "once in awhile" is fine) if you have an automatic transmission equipped truck, since the adjusters do their adjusting via E-brake application, but no worries about it if your truck has a manual trans (and be sure the E-brake DEFINITELY WORKS then, at all times!) and hopefully this round of repair gets you stopping right.
And, back on the adjuster subject - The part you have circled is the slip washer that fits on the cad plated, (lowest part in the adjuster part picture, in a "goldish" color) adjuster fork, (note the notch in the part) and its job is to give the adjuster wheel (the "star" looking notched & threaded wheel) the ability to spin on the other, threaded adjuster (zinc plated) without binding against the unthreaded adjuster fork, and allow the two forks to spread the brake shoes out as needed to keep the adjustment correct to the drum. The tang/notch of the two pieces is so the slip washer doesn't spin around, but I think it'll be OK if it does, because if it does spin, it'll eventually find a place to bind itself at, probably on the brake shoe. I definitely recommend a little bit of lube on it (I usually use some anti-sieze compound, but DO NOT let that stuff get all over the place, which it can certainly do if you get it on your hands, fingers, or shop rags...) And lastly, don't forget going forward (provided the brakes bleed out correctly, and I'm sure they will this time) to occasionally USE THE EMERGENCY BRAKE (just "once in awhile" is fine) if you have an automatic transmission equipped truck, since the adjusters do their adjusting via E-brake application, but no worries about it if your truck has a manual trans (and be sure the E-brake DEFINITELY WORKS then, at all times!) and hopefully this round of repair gets you stopping right.
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