PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - A subframe question (just the beginning ...)

BodhiBenz1987 · #**179** 02-01-2011, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bio300TDTdriver

So if you loosen the star adjuster you can't turn the wheel freely? When I have adjusted my parking brakes it is possible to loosen them enough so that both wheels spin easily.

Did you bed the parking brakes in by making some stops with only the parking brake? You hold the release handle and gently apply the parking brake a few times.

The adjusters are both as tight as they will go. Somehow I managed to get the driver's wheel to spin freely after an hour of random tinkering tonight. I noticed the plate the bottom of the shoes rest on is tapered, so the positioning of the shoes on that plate makes a difference. No matter what I did I was getting a scraping though. Then I tried spreading the star a little bit with the rotor off, then pushing the rotor over the shoes ... idea being maybe it would center the shoes? Then I loosened the star all the way again ... and it turned freely. I have no idea if it was what I did that improved it, or if it just jostled into the right position coincidentally. I did try applying and releasing the parking brake several times. I also rechecked the passenger side (the one I had gotten to behave before) and it doesn't seem to move as freely now as compared to the one I just did. However, the one I just did does not have the caliper attached to it yet so that may be why it's even easier. I'm going to drive myself nuts.

I did not try using the brake while the car was in motion. I thought that was something one did with old parking brakes as a maintenance routine (to "clean" the old shoes)? If it's required on new shoes I will need to do that.
babymog, I did replace the subframe, but I used my old wheel carriers, hubs and dust shields. I had the dust shields loosened to get to the linkage bolts. Which is why I thought maybe I hadn't gotten the shields forced all the way back onto the carrier.