which direction are the drum brake ratchets intended to turn?

Maybe @ChapmanF or @SFO could offer assistance... I'd like to know myself because of some things I got planned...

 

Shows, last page in attached. Rotating star wheel with a downward motion unscrews it, increases the length of the adjuster bar, makes the brakes lock sooner.

 

From the back of the backing plate you lift up on the star wheel to widen the shoes to the drum I do believe that's correct been a long time since I've adjusted rear drums but I believe you use your brake spoon from the backing plate the little hole with the rubber plug which I've lost years ago You reaching with your spoon touch the star wheel and lift up with the spoon like your hoisting it to the sky You can't go back the other way without sticking a screwdriver in to move the locking mechanism to let you go down on the star wheel to loosen the shoes so the drum will come off please let me know if I'm wrong but I don't think so.

 

Each adjuster should get longer when you rotate its starwheel downward (at the point where the adjuster lever clicks over it).

If one gets shorter when you do that, it's installed on the wrong side of the car.

 

I always find that some pictures help out.

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Yeah me thanks from the back side of the wheel with the wheel on or off the rubber plug out you put the spoon in and lift up click click move the wheel here the drag click click a little more drag leave it alone other side same thing You get it too tight that's why you're only doing two clicks at a time like You get it too tight now you got to get a screwdriver in there to push the lock out of the way so you can back it up a couple clicks Don't be that guy.

 

But before starting, you do have to make sure you have each adjuster on the side of the car it's made for.

If not, instead of self-adjusting brakes, you have self-deadjusting brakes, and it doesn't matter what you do with the rubber plug or the spoon.

 

It all comes to where the adjusting lever (the small spring-loaded steel lever attached to one shoe) contacts the star wheel. My memory was that the lever is on the outboard side (right in the open facing you when you've taken the drum off). The diagram you posted there does make it look as though the lever is on the inboard side (behind the adjuster, on the side toward the backing plate ... which is not the way I picture it, but I haven't been in there in a while).

Anyway, that lever pushes the star wheel DOWN on whatever side it is. So if it's on the side I think, then your first description is correct, and if it's one the other side, your second description is correct. So just take a look at where that lever is.

Edit: reviewing more diagrams for both Gen 2 and Gen 1, I'm convinced my memory was wrong and the lever is on the backing-plate side, so that's the side where you want a downward click to expand the adjuster.

A diagram I had showing the lever on the outboard side was from a generic Toyota brake document, probably from some other model.

 

Well I'll be adjusting the drums on my new '07 green car tomorrow afternoon I hope and I'll tell you right quick whether you lift up or push down with your brake spoon to tighten either side because today I changed the tires and I noticed that my shoes are not dragging in the drum properly probably never been adjusted so I will do that tomorrow which will change my braking drastically I'm sure this is the car that has all the lights on for the brakes It's not going to cure the problem by no stretch of the imagination but with this much shoe clearance in the back it certainly affecting breaking I know it does on my Corolla and I keep the shoes on the corolla's adjusted for a light drag and it makes a huge difference in breaking some of my Corollas are drum brakes not disc.

 

Yup, that silvery lever in the middle is the adjusting lever, and there it is on the access-port side, so DOWN at that spot is what you want to mean "expand".

 

Yeah that's right so from the back side of that green spring you're lifting your brake spoon up if I'm not mistaking and the shoes are getting farther apart than hitting the drum if the drum is in place. Then to back that up you have to reach in and push that silver tab with a screwdriver so you can go the other way.

 

That image should be correct for the LH side.

When there is "too much" slack in the shoe fit, the adjuster lever's "at rest" position is high enough to catch a tooth on the starwheel. The small vertical spring will pull the adjuster lever down as the wheel cylinder pushes the shoes away from each other. That lever will move the starwheel clockwise (from the rear) and make the adjuster longer.

When the adjustment is correct, the lever can't move high enough to catch the next tooth on the starwheel so no further adjustment happens.

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The exact same think happened to me when I bought a new set of drums, shoes & hardware... except in my case, the bag said "Right Side" and was identical to the adjuster in the bag that said "Left Side" ...it had been mislabeled. Fortunately I figured that out before I finished the installation and drove the car... so I cleaned, lubricated & installed the 'old' adjuster.

 

Did you buy these mislabeled goods from Toyota, or from some aftermarket outfit?

 

Aftermarket from RA

 

Now wait a minute I just did gen2 yesterday . The little aluminum post that sticks out and holds spring and adjuster . You could turn that around and fubar this seriously? Now I've got to go back and look at the old parts I completely replace everything so I have the old piece of sitting I can go try and move them to the wrong side I don't think it'll work or I'll have to afro engineer or such . Certainly don't seem like it'll be easy.