dan123dbl

I have just replaced my rear brakes with 3" shoes, 1ton wheel cylinders and I turned my drums down at the local shop. I replaced the parts because I was getting a horrible, violent shake in the rear end when braking. This happened frequently but sometimes it would brake normal at the perfect pedal pressure..

The first 3 days my truck has stopped great, but now I'm getting that violent shake again. Is it safe to say my drums are warped again? Could anything else be happening back there that I can adjust? My drums seems to be adjusted equally with a slight drag.



Also, my front brake pad wobbles and thumps around on my driver side. I just took them off and tried getting them tighter in the caliper as per the sticky but it didn't help at all. Seemed to make it worse!

Any help would be appreciated, thanks guys.

NJTman

Why another brake thread, when there are hundreds to read through now ?

Your symptoms are no different than at least 30 or 40 other threads I've read about our trucks having these brake issues, most of which I've lived through myself.

Take the drums back off and look for oil spewing on the shoes

If no oil, determine if the drums are "out of spec". Bring them back to the guy who cut them, and have them put on the machine and see if they're out of round, which can easily happen, if you overtightened the shoes when installed. He'll need to use a dial indicator to determine this, or that specialized tool they use for checking diameter in a drum.

When you put the (either new or original) drums back on, tighten them up till they have a slight drag, then back them off till the drag is no more. It wasn't until I did this, that I finally had brakes that didn't malfunction in one way or another. There is NO SENSE in having a slight drag, as all it does is prematurely warp / heat up the drums, and ruin new brake shoes.

If all this turns out to be whereas you have the same issue, then you need to have the front rotors cut or replaced, as this is the only other location you could be having a pulsating issue.

BTW, if you installed the shoes backwards (front shoe on rear, rear shoe on front) this will happen as well.

mknittle

I have never seen anything in my life with so many brake problems as these trucks.

The RWAL can also cause all kinds of problems.

j_martin

I suspect the main problem is the poor parts available to repair them, like rotors with hard spots, out of round drums, shoes that are shaped wrong and won't engage the parking lever, MC's that fail to seal internally and are not very rebuildable for some reason. A funky ABS system that tries to function without additional hydraulic supply is the icing on the cake.

dan123dbl

I see my problem could be that I have my drums with a bit of a drag so my pedal didn't drop so far. I've read that is the way to do it. I'll do as you suggested. The guy that turned the drums said they were getting close to the minimum size for turning them, so I doubt he'll be able to true them again if need be.

As for the front brake pad thumping around, I have tried the fix in the sticky by making the brake pad fit tighter on the caliper. Does it need to betight enough where it needs to be clamped onto the caliper as suggested? I got mine on by hand but it took a good squeeze.

Forgot to mention I have bypassed my RWAL over a year ago.

NJTman

I take the front pads and hammer the ears down on them. Once I can't get the pad on the caliper, I take a large pair of plyers or clamp and push the pad on the caliper so it's seated fully. I also put light coat ceramic disc lube on the back of the pad, although it's not really necessary, especially if you buy good pads with the shims attached. If your pads are moving around, your rotors are no longer true and straight. Time to cut or replace the rotors. If the rotors are within spec, I'd cut them. If not, good luck finding a good rotor, as all this chinese crap warps a few weeks into using them, then have to be cut to stop the pulsation.

I've tried cheap pads. They always make noise and are more problem than they're worth. I have a brand new set of pads in my garage, which I'll never, ever use. Chinese takeoffs of Brembo. Noisy, and don't stop well. When I bought the 3 sets of them from Rockauto, I thought it would be a no brainer. Neither of the first two sets lasted, or had good brake performance.

My drum issues didn't go away until I replaced them with new drums.

mudbuster

Like he said hammer the ears on the outer shoe until they fit tight on the caliper with no rattle. The inner shoe should have a small spring clip on one end that stops the rattle by keeping slight pressure on the shoe. If you don't have one or have no idea what I mean I can post a picture.

NJTman

attached.....

dan123dbl

It turns out the front end noise wasn't my brake pad, but my whole caliper moving up and down since the retaining slider (don't know the name) wasn't keeping it tight enough to where it sits.

It sits tight in the mount now and no more annoying thumping!

I haven't had time to take my brakes apart in the rear since I'm driving my truck everyday but I'm pretty certain my drums are very warped now. I adjusted them like you said but it has not helped.

My problem was that I adjusted my brakes way too tight to try and get a firm pedal since I didn't bleed my brakes properly after the wheel cylinder change. Stupid mistake

Is it likely my new shoes are toast as well..? I'm going to have to order some new drums since the guys at the brake shop told me that this was the last time my drums would be able to be turned.

j_martin

I haven't been able to buy shoes with decent iron for years. I have one oily set with good iron. I'd like to fine somewhere to get that particular set relined.

The problem is that there needs to be a straight vertical part just above the half round cut in the secondary shoe, and one like it but below the half round in the primary shoe. Good shoes will usually have that structure both above and below the half round in both shoes, as the iron is considered interchangeable. Those points need to be right to engage the parking brake lever. The shoes nowadays seem to be just a sloppy narrow pad at that point, and the parking brake lever rides over it.

I also haven't been able to buy decent caliper hold down kits. I've had 2 calipers come completely loose in the last year. I think they've replaced decent spring steel with case hardened mild steel in the clips. They break with use.

NJTman

Been there, done that. I'd replace it all at this point.

IMO, once the drum reaches a certain diameter greater than stock, they tend to not allow the shoes to contact properly. Not sure about what J. said ^^ but I'm sure he's onto something.

Once I did new drums, raybestos riveted (Not a fan of riveted, but they worked well) PREMIUM shoes, and adjusted them as stated earlier whereas they do not touch at all, I have had zero problems since. Yeah, I spent some coin, but the simple fact I haven't had to disassemble anything for quite some time is a good thing.

Make sure when you do all of this that you disassemble the E brake lever pivot. There's a nut on the back whereas you remove the pivot itself and clean it up good, coat it with never-seize or similar, and put it back together. J. ran into an issue, and so did I, whereas the E brake lever was freezing in the extended position because of rust in the pivot. It should be standard in all brake jobs to disassemble, clean the rust, dust and gunk out of there, lubricate and reassemble.

Be careful, though. The pivot bolt itself is quite small, and subject to snapping off, either during dis assembly or reassembly.

maybe368

Send them to these guys:

Arizona Brake & Clutch Supply, Inc.

They will build them how you want. I am going to drop off my original clutch today to have it brought back to new. I have used them for years and they do quality work...Mark

dan123dbl

I replaced my e-brake cables when I did my brake job too. I coated all the metal to metal parts on the pivot with anti-seize

My parts store seems to have 3+ different sizes of drums that will fit my truck.. There's either OD 13.86", height 3.91".. OD 14", height 3.77" .. or OD 13.85", height 4.5". I couldn't figure out what size I needed laying under the truck with my tape measure

Alec

It's easy: None of those are the correct drum.

Tell them you need drums for a 1993 W350 DRW.

BENDIX Part # PDR0264
RAYBESTOS Part # 1961R
WAGNER Part # BD60328

The SRW Dana 70 on 1st gens uses the same brakes as the DRW. Which is why it is so easy to upgrade a SRW truck to the 3" brake shoes that came stock on the duallies.

dan123dbl

Thanks for the part numbers. Couldn't find anything online. The guys over the counter always have a hard time finding the right parts for me