help with brakes...

[nevada70chev]

to all the drum brake gurus. i replaced the shoes, springs, wheel cylinders, drums. i think we got them adjusted correctly, plus they are self-adjusting right? so, now when i have to hit the brakes hard, it locks up the driverside rear. are they our of adjustment or is there too much pressure to the rear and not the front, would a proportioning value help? thanks for all the help.

[4x4Poet]

First, you have to back up in reverse and hit the brakes solid without screeching the tires to get the self-adjusters to move the shoes out to the drum braking surfaces. Do this a few times and then try another foward stop.

Second, if the adjusters won't move the shoes on both sides close to the drums for even braking side to side, you probably need new adjusters. If the adjusters were more than a year or so old when you did the brake job, they probably should have been replaced.

I know this from hard experience. In fact, the adjusters must never freeze up for the life of the shoes, not just when starting out with replacement shoes, so it's a good precaution to replace adjusters every time the shoes are replaced. If you need new adjusters, expect the spring to also be bad, i.e, too weak to do its duty. Just go ahead and get the adjuster kit with adjuster, spring, and lever. Should be <$20 per side.

I'm taking it for granted that the brake assys were done correctly.