I am installing the brake service kit on my F250 (Dana 60) axle with bendix brakes. I installed the self adjuster cable with the tab at the top of the cable facing inboard almost resting against the forward shoe. The parking brake cam can not actuate it when the lever "over travels" when the adjuster needs to rotate one click. Is everything correct in my photos especially at the top. I can't see it going together any other way. I haven't looked at the other side. But it may not be a good reference if the last guy did it wrong.

 

I would check the other side just to see how it is.

Now the adjuster and arm have a left and right to them when sitting in the truck.
you said you have it on th3 forward shoe but I see an R on the arm right?

Also I believe all cables I have seen were on the rear shoes.
Dave - - - -

 

Self adjusting brake cables installed on trucks (beginning in 1964 w/F100 2WD/Econoline) with front and rear drum brakes.

 

This is the right(passenger side). I was wondering about the top piece crimped to the cable. should the tab which now rides against the front shoe be flipped outwards to perhaps engage the cam so it would rock with the cam and pull the cable hence the arm and click the expander one notch.

 

I guess I should be more clear. By top piece I mean the sliver piece with a hole in it, crimped to the cable on one end and has a tab on the other end bent into a zig zag and is captured in a bushing with the cam, and the parking brake arm and all secured with a little knurled bolt at the top. First two pictures, the part inside the brake arm and cam.

 

I don't think anything is going on at the top where the cable eyelet hooks. That just holds the end of the cable stationary. The whole shoe pair assembly floats inside the drum. When the brakes are applied going forward, the whole assembly twists counterclockwise which jams the rear shoe into the drum. That is why the rear shoe is longer than the front shoe.

When you back up and hit the brakes, the whole assembly twists clockwise. When it does this, it pulls on that adjuster cable and it pulls the arm across the adjuster star wheel adjusting it. That is the way it auto adjusts, from braking forward to braking backward. If you never back up and hit the brakes, your brakes will never auto adjust.

 

I was overthinking the top hooked piece on the cable. Yes it just sits there on it's shouldered bushing. I notice that when you apply the brakes far enough with the drum off, as the rear shoe pushes outward so does the half moon cable guide that gets attached to that shoe at mid point effectively lengthening the distance the cable needs to travel which therefore pulls on the lever that hooks the star wheel up a notch.
It would also extend the length of the cable if the shoes rotated slightly in the backward direction when reverse braking. Now I understand!