robert78.5

On ice the other day I had to stand hard on brakes to make the back wheels stop. I have the shoes adjusted as tight as i dare. Is there something in equailizing valve that can be set?

nickg

swap in larger wheel cyls from a 98 Chev 1 ton, on mine I cut and made the load proportioning rod 1.5 inchs longer, so that it "thinks" there is weight in the bed of the truck. worked for me. I'll try to get a picture to post. are you sure they are adjusted correctly? Did you remove one axel when you adjusted the brakes?
I find it better to adjust the brakes till they lock up then back them off, much more accurate that way

robert78.5

I had a load in box 2200 lbs, I have air bags so truck was still level, maybe that is part of my problem???

nickg

Could be as the box moving down allows more brake bias to the rear shoes. for fun drop the air bag pressure to see if you get more rear brake action, 2200# will drop my rear end like 8inches or so. the brake cyl swap is cheap (less than 30$ for both cyl) and probably the best mod you can do for drum brakes. if I recall GM has a left and right (or was it the dodge cyl) no matter as you just bend the line slightly and it screws right in, and there is NO need to remove the brake shoes to do the swap, just unbolt the park brake arm and pop out the wheel cyl, bleed the brakes and your done.
as a courior I run my truck hard, intown deliverys, 37,000kms since May 07, I've gone thru 3 sets of front pads I was lucky to get more than 2.5 months out of a set, since the Mod I've done 3months and the pads have no wear that I can see. and now when I check my rear drums they are hot to the touch, compared to the cold(not working) when I was eating pads so quick.

robert78.5

Yes i will look into the load sense rod and see if it is moving. Cylinder mods sound easy enough. Came back from Bismarck with the 2200 lbs, 611 kms, front wheel rims are coated with black dust from pads. What you said makes sense. Thanks again.

glenn-k

Thanks for the info, Nick. I'm having similar problems with my rear brakes. Previous owner beefer up the springs - added leaves, so that's probably it.

robert78.5

I lengthed propertionary rod today 1.5" and WOW, now I can stop on hard pack snow or ice. Thanks for the input.