Well you may recall that I was having drum brake trouble with linings and self adjusters. I finally got it squared away and wanted to pass along my two biggest mistakes. #1 the longer brake lining goes towards the rear of the truck. #2 on the star wheel adjusting screw there is a right hand thread and a left hand thread, and one star wheel is silver while the other star wheel is brass. This is what caused my brakes to fail. I built my brakes not realizing this ,so every time I hit the brakes one would adjust normally while the other would loosen, and to compound the problem had converted my fronts to auto adjust also. I believe the brass star wheels belong on the passenger side and the silver ones belong on the drivers side, But make sure Im correct on that don't take my word for it. AS ALWAYS, it was the kind folks hear on FTE that helped me figure things out. I m putting these mistakes as a fresh thread for future reference. Plus I'm adding the picture a fellow member posted for me and I found to be very helpful. I thank everyone for there help on this and hope this may be of help to someone else. I made what could of been a deadly mistake, thanks for your time and please correct me if this any of this information is incorrect. Peace Love & Rock n Roll

 

The Bendix self-adjusters only adjust when you put on the brakes while going backwards. As long as downward movement of the "adjusting lever" causes the star wheel to make the adjusting screw assembly longer, it's correct.

Now you've got me worried! I'll be checking mine...

 

Gee Ross ,this thing sure had me scratching my head, which is normal for me. But I'm sure yours is correct, Id put money on that.