# self adjusters adjust back wheels to tight '95 XE 4X4 pickup



## XE D21 Dave (Oct 10, 2012)

Please help! 
I have owned this '95 4X4 XE for 5 years with no self adjusting rear brake problems. I changed out the brake shoes over 4 years ago (30K miles) and it has run fine since. About 6 months ago the passenger rear would automatically start to self adjust itself to the point the wheel would not turn freely making it obvious when driving. I pull it apart and turn the star wheel to release the shoes and all is fine for about 3 weeks then it tightens up again happening all over again. I have done this too many times to count. I do set the emergency brake when I park, but pull out the brake handle without to much force to keep down on adjusting the shoes. 
My question is how do I stop this? 
I have looked inside both drums and all looks good, cables move freely, not rusty... 
Truck has 198K miles on it.
Thank You!


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## XE D21 Dave (Oct 10, 2012)

Well it has been close to a year now and like I said above if I used the parking brake when I parked the passenger rear tire would start to lock up after 3 to 4 weeks and not want to turn the tire making start ups difficult with this little 4 cyl. engine. I would simply pull the drum off (passenger side only) and reverse rotation on the self adjuster and everything was fine till it happened again in a matter of weeks, if I did not use the parking brake it never locked up. Never feeling comfortable with this situation I decided to really dive into this problem and find the answer. 
With the drums off and a friend pulling slowly on the parking brake handle I could see all components (levers, cables) appearing to move fine and return. I decided to remove the shoes to see the condition of the backing plate for wear, and all was in great shape except I notice the e brake cable aluminum block that swivels on a pin (between shoes) that changes the direction of the cable was difficult to swivel with the cables off. After a little work I was able to take off this part and clean the rust and corrosion off, apply high temp brake grease on the pin. Thinking this could have been it or not I reassembled all. After driving for several weeks now I know it is fixed, I am back to using the parking brake ever time I stop and it is hard to put into words how much better not only the parking brake feels (like a new truck) but also the regular hydraulic brakes feel because the rear shoes are always adjusted up (making a higher foot brake pedal). If your truck has over about 150K or when you do brakes do not make the mistake of taking this for grant it, remove these aluminum blocks and service the pin they swivel on.


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## derekbrian (Oct 2, 2015)

There is a adjustment at the back of the drum .What you have to do is to remove the small rubber plug by pulling the drums to check the brakes. There are no bolts except the wheel lug nuts.It should be just loosened and you can make the adjustment. If still the problem is not solved you must visit top rated Nissan mechanics.


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## XE D21 Dave (Oct 10, 2012)

derekbrian, thanks for responding to this issue. You are correct that there is an adjustment on the outside of the drums near the top. I have read that with the emergency brakes off, adjust the bolts (one on each drum) to just touch the back of the backing plate. But this alone did not fix my passenger side lock up after using the e-brake for about a month, what did fix it (and now it has been several months of using the e-brake every time I park) was lubricating the pivot points for the aluminum blocks (inside drums between shoes) that the e-brake rides on. Once I removed these blocks, cleaned the pins and put a high temp. grease in there the problem was history.


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