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hahahha datsuns have real brakes, none of this star self adjusting wheel ####. which i must say is a very large cause of rear brake failure. The more i work on other cars the more apparent it becomes that datsuns truely are the best.. even if they are old

here's a question for feathers, I gave my brakes a good checking over and maintenance the other week but when I put the adjusters back together I had no glue stick-like lube so i used crc as I figured I was going to take them apart again before the years end. Would that stuff have seized them up by now? it's probly been 6 weeks or so

edit: heheh, feathers

CRC would have evaperated probably before you even used your brakes for the first time! Or if not prevented seizure. Rear brakes cant really seize anyway unless they break apart and jam up.

And since when do star wheel adjuster brakes self adjust??? 1 thing the old datto brake have going for em is ease of adjustment without ripping the drum off. But the more modern system is more simple and just as easy to repair!

I got into the habbit of removing the rear brake adjuster from the backing plate when the shoes are off, then cleaning all the crud from the threads, dismantling it, cleaning all the parts properly, then refitting everything with either a high melting point grease, or with a suitable anti sieze on the threads.
If the square drive is damaged, then replace the adjusting screw with new or a good used one to avoid problems later.

This came about one day many years ago when I went to adjust the rear brakes to discover that one side was frozen & I rounded off the square drive of the adjustment screw.
Now my brakes are always easy to adjust.

If it's the first time that I have had the brakes off, then I usually replace the wheel cylinders with new also. They're too cheap to not do it & then I KNOW absolutely the condition of my brakes.

It is a 1/4 square stud. Get it as tight as you can by hand. Back it off to the flat (you will feel it "snap" onto the flat part). Then ensure the wheel actually turns by hand.

If you do it this way, the brake pedal will be high and tight, just like a brand new car.

Had the same problem a little while back with my brakes, wasnt that hard though,
i had a good looking over and found out that they no longer made the standard thickness brake shoes anymore unless you requisted it, the new one's all came 2mm thicker to compensate for the years and years of skimming the drums, check that out first?!?!?

Well when you buy shues you do usualy request it... Or if not its bad for the brake shop to assume they are oversize!

You are buying brakes from a brake shop i hope

Here in south africa, you can go to just about any brake shop and they are eiether going to tell you they have to be oversive, you drums are #####d or you must go buy new drums as the wreckers down here's drums, you will be damn lucky if you can salvage anything off the cars!!

we can buy brand new drums here, we still have 2007 model Nissan 1400's being made, but why spend so much money on brakes that arent really that great anyway!

hi ppl, stumbled on this site late last nite due to a rear brake (possibly) adjustment problem. thought I would add my problem here instead of starting a new thread.

A friend aquired a 1968 datto 1000 few days ago with no brake pressure whatsoever, a quick check and the master was replaced with a brand new JB1116 which is a single outlet job with one reservoir which goes to a distribution block on the firewall which then splits front left, front right and single rear(drums all round on this thing).

After bleeding the air (and the rubber bits from the original master) out and adjusting the front drums pedal still very sloppy, straight to floor first pump but only halfway down after that. Didnt know about the rear adjustment, which is what made me go looking and stumbled on this site and then this thread, so thinking there might be a further fault we blocked off the line to the rear brakes at the distribution block and re bled the front again and adjusted the shoe clearance to a slight drag on the drums.

At the moment we have front brakes operational only (car is on stands) we have no air in the lines to the best of our ability and now the master still goes halfway to the floor on the first push but hardly moves on the second and subsequent pumps, the drums lock tight from the first pump but I cant see why the first pump is lower than the others as we put another half litre of fluid thru the front lines and no more air came out and as I wrote above the shoes are adjusted as far as practicable.

At least we know how to adjust the back drums now but if we unblock the line even with the back shoes adjusted it is going to need more pedal travel as the master is going to be pushing fluid into 2 more slaves.

The other thing is that the master seems so tiny considering it has to push fluid into 6 slaves, I would welcome some feedback from someone who is still driving an original functioning setup.

Thanks in advance for any and all replies.

John,B10 drum brakes can be a pain in the but at the best of times,as they are super critical on adjustment and lining to dum alignment.Have the linings been radius ground to the drums,if not this could be a cause.
You should also check the wheel cylinders are going in and out correctly,you can do this very gently with the drums off with some one watching the wheel cylinders,but be very carefull not to push too hard(use you hand on the pedal)or you will pop the seals out.
Also remember,drum brakes are designed to "pump up"due to the valving in the master cylinder.
Check these few things,if all is well with the rears,gently test drive it and report back
Cheers