Help Drum Breaks

[Sam03]

I pulled apart my front drum breaks last night, they were very dust and had some spider webs in them but looked pretty good. With that said i have never worked on drums so i dont really know what I'm looking at. So here are some pics let me know if you think. It looks like someone just recently greased both sides.

Passenger Side






Driver Side

[starterman99]

the grease on the bearings looks clean ,could be somewhat fresh.the brake linings and drums look as though the vehicle has been sitting for a while.

[Sam03]

I have no idea the last time it moved on its own. But i bought it with out a drive train and pulled the truck out of the weeds. I was very surprise to see the clean grease when i pulled the drums off.

[mr48chev]

I'd say that truck had a brake job not long before it went idle. If it were me I'd take a few more photos to remember exactly where everything was, Put a pan under it and spray it down with brake cleaner (don't blow the dust out with an air hose as that blows asbestos dust all over the place) and then I'd pull it apart and rebuild or replace the wheel cylinders, clean up the shoes with a wire brush Sand the lining with some 180 or so sand paper to get the glaze off and put it back together.
Run some sandpaper around the inside of the drum to clean the contact area for the shoes off, pack the bearings and put it all back together, adjust and bleed the brakes and you have that part done.

The shoes look fine but I wouldn't trust the wheel cylinders without either the rebuild or replacement.

[Clarance J]

Hello Sam03. You not being familiar with drum brakes on this truck here are just a few things that I noticed in your pictures. 1) These trucks had ball bearing in the front at one time. So the bearings have been replaced with roller bearings. That's good. 2) Next check the linings on the drivers side. The shoes are two different sizes or lengths. The shorter shoe should be facing or on the front. You can flip these shoes. So long in back, short one front. The pass side seems Ok. 3) It looks like the drums might worn out. The reason I say this is the lip on the drum. Safe thing to do is take drums to shop and have checked. I would say the same thing as mr48chev said. Complete tear down, replace wheel cylinders, clean parts and reassemble.

[Clarance J]

After going back for a second look the shoes do look to be installed right. Sorry Sam03 if I caused any confusion.

[67GMCkid]

For safety sake, throw those old bonded shoes in the trash!

The glue they use dries out and moisture causes the bare steel under the lining to surface rust and the lining falls off, not what you want while driving down the road..

They are easily available and not worth the risk! Replace them with a fresh set..


I actually have many sets of obsolete Mopar shoes here that I save to be relined. In fact the last Dodge I had here had one lining per wheel fall off..

[Sam03]

Thanks for all the advise. I will start cleaning up and replace what i need to.

[mr48chev]

What Clarence J mentioned on getting the shorter (primary lining) on the front side and the longer (secondary lining) on the back side on both sides of the truck is something to remember though. That seemed to be one of the big things that guys who attempted to do their own brakes on the weekend and then brought the rig to the shop where I worked as the front end and brake mechanic did on a regular basis and then had trouble with the brakes.

You might think about replacing the shoes with new ones as 67GmcKid suggested if they look suspect when you get them cleaned up. They don't show any miles on them and probably have under 500 miles on them but they have been sitting for a while.

[MARTINSR]

If you don't have a factory repair manual get one. They are VERY useful when doing something you don't do every day. I got them for my Rambler and am damn glad I did. The drums look like they may need to be turned. But often they have been turned out too the limit over the years. There is usually a little lip at the edge of the machined surface that is the limit. If yours has no little lip. You can see this right below the pencil tip, see on the inside where the shoes hit?



They can be measured as well of course but that little lip is usually a give away to how much more they can go. And if you have a REAL parts store in town (not the McParts stores like Auto Zone and the like) there is a good chance they have those shoes in stock. My local REAL parts store does.



Brian

[MARTINSR]

And by the way, it this truck has been setting for a number of years there is a good chance your brake fluid is now oatmeal in there! I simply bit the bullet and replaced all the lines, wheel cylinders, hoses, and master cylinder. It was super easy, the tubing bought at the parts store is now easily bent without a tubing bender and I put the whole thing is with only one line needing to be shortened from the ones right off the shelf. I now have all new brakes and have never had a single problem running all the original design, singer reservoir master cylinder and all.

Brian

[dcmalone]

Something I found when rebuilding mine a few years back.

http://www.pbase.com/nufsed/drumbrake

Autozone normally has the wheel cylinders in stock, fronts- part # 33502, 33501, rear - part # 33004, 33005 for about 10 bucks a piece. They have the brake shoes in stock too for about 25 a set. Good luck and have fun.