need some help with brakes

[devinfife]

i just redid my rear brakes and i thought i did everything correct but it now pulls to the right whenever i apply the brake. i was thinking that i had them adjusted too tight. when i put the drums back on after replaceing the shoes, i was told to adjust them so that the drum barely fit. i did this and now there is virtually no pedal travel. i thought this may be the problem. here's my thinking and someone correct me if im wrong: if the rear brakes are adjusted tighter than the fronts, then the rears are doing all the stopping? is this correct? and also what would cause the brakes to pull to the right? any help is greatly appreciated.

thanx

devin

[devinfife]

ttt. c'mon someone must have an idea.........

[lofly'a]

okay, i'll give it a shot. no i don't think the rears would do most of the stopping. remember that you have a proprotioning valve that regulates how much "pressure" goes to each end and really has very, very, very, little to do with which lining is closer to the drum. i go through this all the time with my gto, i must tweek them really close to get even braking. the pulling to one side can be attributed to the uneveness though, "why", i'm not really sure since the slack adjusters should adjust them all evenly. but wait, this is a mechanical system that was designed to operate in a like new state, so once the adjusters get gummed up, or drums heat up, (oh by the way, drums run different temps. and work harder or less depending on if they are cornering while braking (load) things start to happen that are not within like new design condition anymore, hence discs were born and solved most but not all these problems.

so adjust all wheels manually (fair amount of interference is okay) and when you feel that your braking abilities start to diminish, you will get the most out of your drum brakes. i might add that if you didn't change all your shoes at one time and have mismatched sets, well there goes another thought to ponder.

oh yea, i found that one thing that really affect braking is contamination. a little brake fluid on the linings will make that 1 wheel lock up really fast and scare the bejesus out of you. cracked linings, glazed drum surfaces, improperly installed parts, moisture in the system, oh man, theres really a boat load of possibilities.

anyone else since i opened the can of worms

[chevy lover]

To my knowledge the proportioning valve only works between front and rear meaning it does not equal out pressure between front right side and front left. this being the same in the rear.

I have an 88 suburban that pulled to the right and it turned out to be(the right side caliper was jamming, leaving the brake on that side partially engaged. The harder I got on the pedal the worse the pull got.

[devinfife]

chevy lover, that is a very familiar story. how much work was it to replace a rear caliper?

[lofly'a]

yup i did say each wheel, but i meant front to rear (edited my post) there are no calipers on the rear of an 88 burb, he was referring to the front right. chrysler corp. had a big prob. with this in the 80's because they used non-metal composite pistons on the front calipers. the piston would wear rapidly until it got too sloppy in the cylinder and would hang-up and not release once fluid pressure was released, but other things can cause this to happen too. devinfife, if you want to know if it is a lot of trouble to change a rear "wheel cylinder" as it is called in rear drum systems, the cylinder is attached to the backing plate with 2 small bolts and 1 brake line which is fairly simple to change. the trick to this job is you must remove the moving parts in the drum to change the wheel cylinder out. the answer is knowing how to put everything back where it goes afterward. the best advice i can give is to jack both sides, remove both drums and disassemble 1 side at a time and use the other side to guide you along as a placement reference.

[Fast68Chevy]

is actually technically only a distribution block up til 71, then they had a prop valve in them after 70.

pulling to oen side up front would be front problem, need to adjust shoes out farther on the side that the truck is not pulling towards when are braking

good luck

[1-PU70]

Since you only did the rear here is what you need to do. First check the front shoes. If they are OK then this is how you adjust the breaks. Tighten down the adjusters till you cant turn the wheel. (now would be a good time to cut a hole in the backing plate if they dont have one). Then back off the adjuster til you can turn the wheel freely with just a little drag. If you do it this way your truck will never pull except in the rain. I have been doing this for about 30 years and beleive me this is the way.

[Longhorn Man]

Don't cut holes in the baking plate...there is a knockout in the drum for this.

[ChevLoRay]

One thing that some people forget, or don't realize is that drums can be cut (resurfaced) and not be the same inside diameter. A drum that is larger in diameter (internal measurement) will pull to that side....especially when it is on the front.

Grease on shoes, like from a leaking rear axle seal, will cause the shoes on that wheel to grab.

Likewise, failure to use brake parts cleaner on the drum to clean it before you reinstall it, could result in an oily film remaining, depending on how clean your hands were before you put it back on.

If you had greasy hands and got any of that on the lining on the shoes, that can affect how they grab.

Also, you have leading and trailing shoes. One of them has more lining on it (a longer piece). If you get them reversed, it can pull to that side that is incorrectly installed.

Ideally, the drums will be the same I.D. Brake shops use a caliper of sorts to match the width of the shoes to the I.D. of the drum. This saves time and adjusting. The gyst is to just barely be able to slide the drum over the shoes.

Make sure that you put some white (lithium) grease on the contact points of the backing plate. There should be about 3 or 4 of them for each shoe. Just a dab will do. All you want is to have a little bit there for the shoes to slide on, instead of having bare metal. It's a little thing, but it's an important one.

Primarily, braking is done by the front brakes, some saying that it's a 70/30 thing, front to back. Usually, a rear brake will lock up if things ain't right. You will probably want to pull the drums and look at the whole thing again, just to be sure you have everything in the right place. Good luck.

[1-PU70]

If your using a stock wheel you have to remove the wheel every time you want to adjust. If you dont mind then dont cut. If you want to make it as easy as posable then cut. Yours to pick.

[BobM]

Another thing to check is to make sure you have the shoes on the right way. Remember that the surface on one sure is bigger than the other. If they're on backwards on one wheel, this will cause uneven braking. Also check your emergency brake cables to ensure they aren't sticking.

[devinfife]

thanks for the idea's everyone. i also have one last observation: it seems to pull to one side while braking after i slam on the brakes and after they get hot. and after they get hot, or i make a quick stop, my alignment seems to be off. like it will pull to that(right) side. would this mean that one side is engaged a little bit? also i know the rear brakes are the problem cuz the fronts worked fine before i fixed the rears.