Righto, having found some brand new front shoes in my store, I thought I'd have a go at replacing the shoes. Got drums off after backing off adjusters, to find plenty of meat left on the shoes.

So - I tried putting the drum back on and to just adjust them as specified in the haynes:

"There is no need to raise the front of the car, there is enough play in the driveshafts to adjust the drums with the wheels on the floor"

Errr - eh? Not on my car there isn't.

What an odd thing to put in a workshop manual. Why wouldn't you raise the car off the floor? It's hardly like it's a big job.

Quite - that's what I thought!

With the wings off, I like to leave the road wheel on and jack up under the arm so that the drive shaft is in a good "driving position" Adjust using a good quality ring spanner while rotating the wheel. Adjust until the wheel stops turning then back off until its just free and easy to turn. Repeat with the other adjuster. Then repeat with other side. Don't forget to adjust the hand brake cables at the same time.

Thanks Paul - much appreciated!

Don't they say you should never finish by slackening back off on the adjuster, but go back on again. Why is this? I was pleased as punch to finally get to grips with fitting and adjusting front drums. Very satisfying indeed.

Who do you mean "they". The adjuster is a snail action on a pin on the shoe. I can't think of a reason why you would need to adjust it in any other way. Glad to see you are getting your hands dirty, that's the satisfying bit.

because if you back off the cam the shoe may not follow it and you then have a gap

S

Then there is another problem. The shoes should follow that's one of the reasons there are big fat springs on them. If they don't follow they may be seized on the pivots.

Or the wheel cylinder piston is stuck preventing the shoe(s) to follow the cam.