Rear drum brake dragging

[kylakekevin]

Went through the rear end everything is new from Wild Horses except the housing and carrier and brake springs. I bought the spring kit for the brakes but the kit looked nothing like my springs so I didn't use it. This is on a 67 big bearing rear end with manual adjusters not self adjusters . From what I can tell the front shoe on passenger side is not being pulled completely back to the resting position after use. Called WH and talked to a tech and he emailed me a pic that is for the self adjusters and that is all I can find also. Is there anyone who sells the spring kit I need or do I need to buy the self adjuster kits and install them also and can this be done?

 

[kylakekevin]

A few pics

 

[tripleJs15]

Everything seems to look ok, do you have the right size drums?

 

[kylakekevin]

Everything is the right size the springs just seem week and I can't find the springs that are on mine.

 

[B RON CO]

Hi, two common causes for the brake problem you are having are a frozen parking brake cable, or maybe the cable is not released all the way, and grooves worn in the backing plate on the spots where the shoes slide.
The spring on the parking brake link looks mangled, but I doubt that is causing any trouble.
My guess is the parking brake cable because the star adjuster is completely retracted.
I would squeeze the horseshoe clip on the parking brake lever closed some more.
Good luck

 

[kylakekevin]

That spring is mangled still looking for a new one of those. I will close the clip down more and check the cable for movement, I don't use the parking brake much so that may be part of the problem. It wasn't dragging with the old set up but the shoes are a touch thicker than old ones so cable may not be releasing enough. Thanks B RON CO

 

[ngsd]

I have had trouble with replacement shoes and had to shave down the area on the adjuster as it did not seat well. It pushed it out far enough to drag and once cleaned up it worked fine.

 

[jamesroney]

Your parking brake is "ON."

You might think that your brake is off, but you can see from your picture that the front shoe is sitting off of the anchor.

The lever attached to the cable needs to retract back enough to let the shoes return. You can prove this by simply removing the e-brake equalizer strut.

That collapsed spring and funky retainer on the strut are just to keep it from rattling. It's not designed to actually do anything, and actually pushes the shoes outward.

Once you remove the strut, and the brake drum fits...then systematically install the e-brake parts until you find the culprit. (Probably going to find that you have some 10 inch parts mixed in with your 11 inch brakes, or something is binding somewhere...)

 

[DirtDonk]

What orientation are your pictures from? In the first pic the shock is on the right, but is that the forward end of the Bronco or the rear?
If the rear, then your shoes are on backwards too, since the primary (short) shoe always faces the front of the vehicle.
If that is the front, is this just part of a dual shock setup, or do you have the early shocks with the stud on the top? Maybe your rig is actually a '66? Which would explain the shocks and the lack of self adjusters.

Paul

 

[kylakekevin]

Hey Paul you are looking at the rear passenger brake. I installed all the new springs and self adjusters today per Matt's picture he sent me and the shoes are being pulled back to the center stud the way they are supposed to. The old springs were evidently weak and wouldn't pull shoes all the way back in the way there supposed to. All parts are now new 11" parts except backing plates which are all smooth and no grooves where shoes ride. The parking brake stuff all seems to be working fine also. I didn't drive it today because of rain ,maybe I can get it out tomorrow to test it. I will pull it back apart and look at shoe location first. I will keep you all posted. Thanks!

 

[B RON CO]

Hi, the small primary shoe is in the front, were it belongs, and the larger secondary shoe is in the rear. The parking brake lever is always in the rear of the brake assembly. Good luck

 

[Rustytruck]

I had to weld up and dress flat the pads on the backing plate where the shoes ride to keep the shoes from hanging up. get a new spring kits from rock auto. make sure the shoes are proper for your drum size as there are at least 4 different sets to get mixed up and they have to have the right drums and backing plates. the 10 Inch drum front. the 10" drum small bearing rear, the 10 inch X 2 inch big bearing rear and the 11" X 1-3/4 rear big bearing and the 76-77 11 x 2-1/4" all use different backing plates.

 

[kylakekevin]

I drove it to work this morning and it's still getting hot. I bought all new 11 x 1-3/4 brake components from Wild Horses so I don't think I have a mix match of parts. I put the new spring kit on with the self adjusters, shoes, drums and wheel cylinders on both sides. The driver side is cool to the touch. The E brake seems to be releasing but I will take the strut out like Jamesroney said to do and see if it changes anything. When I'm putting the drum on it slides on easily and I haven't applied the E brake so I don't know. The only other thing I can think of is I put new axels in at same time from WH with the bearings already installed and everything seemed to seat up well. I don't think the axel is the problem though because if I use the gears to slow me down more using the brakes less it doesn't seem to get as hot. Oh and the backing plates the top two flat pads are smooth can't feel any grooving, the bottom pad I can feel wear but no grooving.

 

[kylakekevin]

Backed into the shop and took wheel off with gloves pulled the drum off and it came off easy with no drag took a few pics and the shoes and outer drum are 300 deg, the drivers side was 160 compared. Every thing was loose as far as the e brake strut and al was in its correct location I believe. This is passenger rear brake

 

[DirtDonk]

did you say you'd replaced the individual hard lines? Since this is drum you don't have a soft line out at the end that is where the wear and tear usually cause this kind of side-to-side trouble. But metal lines can still get clogged and rusted i suppose.
Otherwise there's nothing from the soft line at the center of the axle to the front of the vehicle that would cause a side-to-side variation like this. So it's gotta' be somewhere in the back, or right at the brakes.

Perhaps a wheel cylinder with a rusty ridge inside is causing the shoes to stay outward on the hot side a little longer and dragging? The fact that you could pull it right off even while hot means that it's not actually dragging at that moment. If you can pull it off, the shoes have fully retracted by then.

Then again, I suppose if one side is adjusted slightly looser than the other, then if something up front is retaining pressure in the line the looser side would simply not get as hot as the tighter side.
Might be one other thing to look at then. Same for just heating up from doing more work. If one side is tighter, then it might be doing more work under light braking (heavy pressure "should" equalize the shoe friction a little more I would think) and making more heat that simply stays in the metal longer.

dunno, other than keep digging. It's gotta' be something simple.
(famous last words!)

Paul

 

[gr8scott]

I feel your pain kylakekevin, I went through the same thing several months ago. Re-did my rear brakes, right side dragging.
I swapped my drums around, no change. I swapped the shoes around, now my left side was dragging. I swapped just the
front shoes around, now my right side was dragging again! Which is weird as both front shoes looked identical to each other.
I used a electric sander and removed a lot of material from the offending front shoe, no change, still dragging. It was a head
scratcher for sure. Bought a different brand of shoes (Raybestos), no more dragging.

 

[kylakekevin]

gr8scott I'm about to the point of putting the old stuff back on that wasn't causing any problems at all, just wanted all new while spending the money rebuilding the rear end. There is nothing I hate worse than buying new parts that don't work right (NOT SAYING ANYTHING BAD ABOUT WH) I have bought LOTS of great parts from them. I may go ahead and get another new set of shoes and then clear the welding table off and lay everything out on it, the old the new and the new new and start measuring every part to see where the difference is. I'm already going bald and this stuff is why I think.;D

 

[kylakekevin]

Paul that's some good ideas ill look into on being out of adjustment.

 

[ngsd]

I am replacing the new parts on mine today as well trying to solve the same issue. You are not alone.

 

[kylakekevin]

Maybe one of us can figure this out! I have another pair of shoes coming in locally and ill make some new hard lines up myself. I am going to check the adjustment and measure between shoes at the adjuster first though.