Fusion rear brakes 1.4tdci 2005

[fullwavebridge]

Hi all.

nsr wheel bearing sounded like a jumbo jet, decided to replace both rear wheel bearings.

Removal of drums revealed they were near knackered to be honest - so went down the route of replacing drums (with pre fitted bearings), shoes, abs rings.

Being a vauxhall man for many years, the ford brakes i wasn't too familiar with.... so i photographed each side before disassembly, but noticed the automatic adjuster orientation was different on each side.

Can anyone tell me if these are correct or not please ? The single pic is the nsr, the other two are the osr.

Many thanks

 

 

[isetta]

I don't know. I had 2007 fiesta and had to attend to the rear drum brakes as the adjusters appeared not be working automatically. I can't remember what they looked like.

In my experience automatic adjusters appear to stop working when the car gets older. I would just manually adjust them up as far as they will go with you still being able to get drum back on and it spin without binding.  You'll know when it needs doing again as the handrake lever will be getting high.

[fullwavebridge]

Thanks for reply, yeah thats what i have done.

Will double check it before mot next month.

Thanks again.

[fullwavebridge]

After an accidental stumble over other posts i came across this picture showing the nsr.

It appears that mine was fitted the wrong way round.

This picture shows what it should look like.

I will strip mine and correct the previous mechanics mistake, when it gets a bit warmer !

[Paulkp]

Like me, I have a pile of job cards for when the weather gets warmer, drier, and less windy!

[fullwavebridge]

Yeah, i have clutch to do on mine too, looking forward to doing it but defo warmer weather required.

[tomas_d_tank_engine]

Sir, you have your adjusters facing wrong if you followed that photo you found on the internet later on. 

I know it does seem absolutely wrong when first seen, but that facing of adjuster you saw when you disassembled the drums for the first time is factory correct setting. The adjuster on the RH side is facing out with the flat spring, LH adjuster is facing out with that curved brass or copper spring out (yep, I struggle to recognize which metal is which 😂).

Although one would think (and many did so, including me, that's how I found out) that facing that weird way doesn't matter and it's looking wrong by the first impression, it has a reason which I do not have officaly confirmed by Ford, they most likely won't tell you this, but they will say they can take a look at it at their workshop..

Because these brakes can last by my experience 250 000 km without any servicing, when doing some regular driving, you are maybe also the first one to look into them so this supports the theory that the facing you observed on first occasion is correct.

You need to notice that those adjusters are both identical, no left or right side difference is obvious. When your LH ajduster is facing flat spring out you actually turned the beak of that curved spring which is locking onto that turning wheel downwards. This will not most likely not affect the function of the adjuster, but you have gained a bad acces to that beak, when YOU NEED TO MANUALLY ADJUST THE ADJUSTER WHENEVER CHANGING OR SERVICING BRAKE SHOES! 

You need to understand the working principle of this type of adjuster. It is pressed whenever handbrake is applied. That presses the curved spring, allowing the beak to grab onto closer tooth of that wheel. When you want to drive the car and press the brake pedal to release the handbrake you generate more pressing force on the shoes to press against the drum and it allows the adjuster to return to its neutral state when you relase the handbrake lever and the shoe handbrake lever is returned to default position, meanwhile the beak, holding the closer tooth than the tooth it was resting on before applying the handbrake, is rotating the wheel a little bit which causes extending the lenght of that adjuster. This can happen only in this manner by my experience, not when just braking with the pedal, so, you need to use the handbrake for parking to get proper adjustment in time. Some people like to put the car into first gear or reverse when parking, but then they are most likely to observe rear brake adjusting problems then. Also, it is extremely important to have the brake cables in good shape and well adjusted hanbrake. It is really fragile symbiosis of these parts.

WHENEVER YOU REMOVED THAT ADJUSTER, YOU NEED TO MANUALLY ADJUST IT TO CORRECT BRAKE SHOE CLEARANCE TO THE DRUM. YOU NEED TO FEEL A VERY SLIGHT DRAG OR ALMOST NONE DRAG OF THE BRAKE SHOES WHEN TURNING THE DRUM. OTHERWISE THE FUNCTION DESCRIBED ABOVE CANNOT HAPPEN AND YOU GONNA OBSERVE THE SILVER HANDBRAKE LEVER OF THE SHOE MAYBE DRAGING AGAINST THE DRUM IF ADJUSTER WILL BE TOO SHORT, OR AT LEAST IT WON'T BE ABLE TO ADJUST PROPERLY IN TIME.

So you need to rotate the wheel with a screwdriver(small flathead) in the correct direction (the beak will tell you) to expand the adjuster so you have correct clearance of the shoes and the drum. And if you did so too much, so the shoes are dragging realy too much, you need to lift the beak of that curved spring of the teeth of the wheel and turn the wheel in oposite direction shortening the ajduster a little bit (only by one tooth or two mostly). THAT IS THE REASON, WHY THE ADJUSTER ON THE LH SIDE IS FACING THAT WAY, BECAUSE YOU HAVE BETER ACCES TO THAT BEAK FROM ABOVE THE AJDUSTER, THAN FROM BELOW. 

I hope that my explanation will make this clear and I am sorry for my grammar and caps on important things 🙄

[fullwavebridge]

I refitted mine exactly the same way they came off. I did not use the picture i found on the internet.