Brake question

[joebronco73]

Hey all,

I just replaced my driver front wheel cylinder today. Problem is that under breaking, the bronco pulls right. Harder right for harder braking. I've bled both sides and replaced hoses about 4 years ago. Neither side shows signs of a leaky or cracking hose. Any thoughts on what this might be or how to fix it? Thanks, in advance.

 

[rmk57]

Did you adjust the brake shoes after you put the drum on?

 

[joebronco73]

I did. I'm considering that the passenger side may be too tight, but I can't tell for sure. After a test drive, it was warm, where the driver side was cool to the touch.

Also, this problem did not exist before the wheel cylinder went out, for those who may want to know.

 

[El Kabong]

Did any brake fluid get on the shoes when the cylinder went out? That will cause the wet side to have no ability to stop.

 

[joebronco73]

I'm assuming so. The cylinder that went bad pissed everywhere. I wiped the shoes down, but maybe not well enough.

 

[El Kabong]

Yeah, that's probably it. Once they get wet it is pretty difficult to get them clean enough. I was taught to not even touch braking surfaces out of concern of depositing oils from hands. Probably best to start with new shoes & a serious clean up of drums & other components before installation. For the price of new shoes its not really worth risking having bad brakes.

 

[joebronco73]

Good point. Unfortunately, the severity of the leak was pretty bad, so it may have just soaked into the shoes...

I spoke to a friend of mine and showed him pics/explained the scenario and he guesses the same. Looks like I may just need a whole new set of shoes!

 

[El Kabong]

They're surprisingly cheap.

 

[DirtDonk]

Yes they are.
Just make sure you check them for size though, inside the drums. BEFORE you install them!

I've seen two sets now that were so far off of the proper sizing that they would not seat properly in the drum, and would literally not allow the drum to go on once they were installed on the backing plate.

There is one other possibility that, though unlikely, is not impossible either. That's the new wheel cylinder being a different size than the other side. No way to know though, unless you take them both out and measure the bore diameter.

Paul

 

[B RON CO]

Hi, when Ford designed the drum brakes there made primary shoes (short lining) and secondary shoes (longer lining). The primary shoe goes towards the front of the Bronco. It is a common mistake to mix up the shoes and install the secondary shoe to the front, or the same size shoe on one side. I have seen replacement brake shoe sets where all the shoes are the same size. This is a problem because these brakes were not designed to use the same size shoes all around. Every mechanic should, as mentioned, check the new brake shoe in the drum, as well as matching to the old shoe for overall size and depth. Often times the parts guy will give a short depth shoe when a deeper heavy duty shoe, with a deeper drum is on your Bronco (usually a rear brake issue). We always change wet brake shoes, and we give new shoes a light sanding if they get dirt or grease on them. I like to adjust drum brakes with the tire on, until there is a light scraping sound, then step on the pedal and check the wheel again. I'm not saying this has to do with your problem, just something to keep an eye on. Good luck

 

[joebronco73]

Thanks, guys! I ended up shooting some brake cleaner into the drum, in the hopes that I wouldn't have to pull everything apart in the dark :-[. Fortunately, I got to drive it this morning and find that it didn't pull, until I started to lock up. Under normal braking, the whole thing goes straight. Only problem is that the braking doesn't seem as strong as before. At this point, I may have to consider doing a disk swap (sooner than I had hoped, but sounds better than spending the cash and time to reshoe/rebuild brakes, just to replace them in a few months). Given that, which kit has everyone had the best luck with? I am really interested in the TBP kit...

 

[Joe473]

If they had brake fluid on them replace them. They are cheap and take about an hour. Much cheaper than a new front clip or rolling over in a panic stop.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk