Lately when I let off the brake pedal, it takes about a second before the brakes disengage. Feels like the back brakes are sticking, but I'm not sure. Front rotors, pads, and calipers are less than a year old. The rears are a different story... Stopping is normal. Any ideas what it could be? I'm a newb to drum brakes.

 

have you flushed the powersteering fluid recently?
old fluid can cause issues with the hydroboost.

 

Thanks for the info! Would've never thought of that. I don't think my '96 has hydroboost tho. Still vacuum operated.

 

my bad, never caught you were refering to vacuum brakes, you'd have to pull the rear drums and inspect the brake components, and confirm the rears are indeed hanging up,

if the rear drum stuff checks out ok, maybe look into the flex lines or wheel cyl/calipers hanging up.

to check which wheel is the problem, put the veh on jack stands, have someone apply brakes, as soon as they release the pedal. you try to rotate each wheel by hand, once you find the sticking wheel you will at least have a start point

 

Interested in your fix as my 02 "might" have a similar issue. Normally I don't notice it but if I have a trailer in tow, the trailer brakes stick for that one second I let off the peddle and then release from a stop. More recently when it's cold if I push the pedel fast there is a quick pulse like ABS is kicking in but it doesn't and then normal peddle pressure. Even from a cold start, foot on break peddle to put into reverse I'll feel the pulse in the peddle.

I had the power stearing pump replaced ~2 years ago as I'm hydro boost and puked under warranty.

Keep us posted.

 

Is this a very difficult procedure? My 98.5 has the same issue, i replaced my steering box and with the cold my steering is very stiff and brakes seem to drag too, is there a proper steering fluid i should be using too? The jokers at dodge told me atf but i work at honda and it seems to me that the guys at dodge are wrong. Thanks eh!

 

brakes sticking if you have trl brakes is usually the brake controller, the brake light is always slow to release, purely design issue, some controllers are timed, meaning it sends a pulse to apply the trl brakes, and they dont release until the brakes lights go out, mine did the same thing, I got a prodgy controller (inertia type) and the truck/trl behaves totally different than it did with the old type brake controller.

for other issues, try flushing the power steering fluid first, its often neglected and causes all kinds of issues, 95% of the time a flush fixes the issues

 

its susposed to be powersteering fluid in the older dodges, some report using ATF with no problems.

synethetic powersteering fluid is best, especially in cold weather

 

A leaking outer differential oil seal will make the shoes stick.
You need to pop off the drums and check.
Even a slight leak that doesn't drip out on the outside of the drum will cause sticking. Seal is very easy to replace.
Most times the shoes become impregnated with oil and can't be cleaned, have to be replaced.

 

Update... The springs were worn and things were getting dry. Went ahead and replaced the shoes, springs, & self-adjusters. Works great now and actually helps some in stopping. Guess it wasn't doing much before. I do have a leak on the pass side rear though.. Saving that for another day.