Rear brake adjustments, mines TIGHT

[Pathofinder]

My husband had our 2wd 2001.5 pathfinder on jackstands today to spray some undercoating and we noticed that the back passenger rear wheel is quite tight trying to spin it by hand. Its got alot of drag and stops instantly when you rotate it. The driver side rear spins almost a full rotation with much less effort.

Is there an easy way to adjust or is it time for a brake job?

[Towncivilian]

I believe there are star adjusters visible if you remove the wheel and the plug in the backing plate that covers the adjuster. Turn the adjuster until the shoe makes contact with the drum, then back it off until there is a slight drag. Be sure to get the orientation of the threads correct; driver's side has left-hand threads, the passenger side has right-hand threads.

[Pathofinder]

Sorry thread direction has me confused. The car is still in the air but the wheels are on for tonight atleast.

I'll see if I can find this adjuster/plug and hope I have a tool that can access it right now

[Towncivilian]

A flathead screwdriver should work fine. Sorry that I don't have a picture or more precise instructions on finding it, I've never touched the rear brakes myself yet. I plan to clean, lube, and adjust them soon though. The rear brake hardware lasts a very long time - mine has about 55% life left at 131k miles.

[Pathofinder]

Well I hopped under the car and couldnt spot any "plugs" on the back of the drum, there was 2 plug looking things on the back of each brake, at 3 and 9 oclock position. But we couldnt pop them out, and they couldnt have been 1/4" holes anyways. No way of adjusting anything there

The passenger rear wheel is TIGHT, so hard to move with your hands, while the drivers spins free as a bird. So i definetely need to get this taken care of asap

We even started the car with the rear end on jackstands and the passenger wheel couldnt even spin on its own while in drive, but the drivers side wheel was spinning no problem

I need this fixed asap, anyone adjusted this or know what I should do next.

[Towncivilian]

If nothing else, Nissan will do a rear brake service for $40 (which is just clean, lube, and adjust and measure the remaining life left as far as I know) and I'm sure that would fix things. I'll try to find the plug tomorrow and take a photo of it. Perhaps removing the wheel is required, I'm not sure.

[04Chinook]

Well I hopped under the car and couldnt spot any "plugs" on the back of the drum, there was 2 plug looking things on the back of each brake, at 3 and 9 oclock position. But we couldnt pop them out, and they couldnt have been 1/4" holes anyways. No way of adjusting anything there

The passenger rear wheel is TIGHT, so hard to move with your hands, while the drivers spins free as a bird. So i definetely need to get this taken care of asap

We even started the car with the rear end on jackstands and the passenger wheel couldnt even spin on its own while in drive, but the drivers side wheel was spinning no problem

I need this fixed asap, anyone adjusted this or know what I should do next.

Have you tried hitting the drum with a big hammer? Sometimes that works to loosen things up a little.

[Pathofinder]

If nothing else, Nissan will do a rear brake service for $40 (which is just clean, lube, and adjust and measure the remaining life left as far as I know) and I'm sure that would fix things. I'll try to find the plug tomorrow and take a photo of it. Perhaps removing the wheel is required, I'm not sure.

I seen that you said they would check it out for $40. So I called. And guess what they want for the brake inspection here?? $169 !!!!

Id love to do it myself, since my husband is fairly handy at actually DOING the stuff, just figuring it out and not jumping in blind is what Im cautious of. Id love to get this taken care of tomorrow if possible.

I checked the FSM after work for brake adjustment, VERY LITTLE to no info. Nothing on the star wheel I could find

[Pathofinder]

And the sales desk practically laughed when I said I heard it could be done for $40. You must have a great local dealer!

[Towncivilian]

Well, I said "rear brake service", not any sort of inspection. $169 for a simple inspection is ridiculous though. Yeah, I like my dealer, they do good service, rarely try to upsell, and I get wholesale prices at the parts desk.

You're right about lack of info. I looked into the FSM as well as the Hayne's manual I have, neither really have any info regarding the actual position of the adjuster or how to adjust it.

[Pathofinder]

I appreciate your effort greatly, thank you for trying atleast.

I watched some youtube videos at work, I just dont see an access plug to get to the star wheel that they all talk about

[Towncivilian]

Reading this thread, the plug is apparently a rectangular plug somewhere on the upper/center portion of the backing plate. I'll try to find it and get a picture tomorrow.

[Pathofinder]

I was just reading that thread lol, I read,

"it will be the rectangular plug on the upper/center portion of the boot."

What boot could he be refering to??

[Towncivilian]

I was wondering the same thing. I have no idea what he's talking about.

[Pathofinder]

Im stumped, there aint no boots down there

[Pathfound49]

It's a black rubber plug. Rectangular in shape about 1 inch long and a 1/2 in tall. a small screwdriver will pop it out. Just above where the axle tube attaches to the brake drum backing plate.