I am working on my 1997 2500 5 speed truck. This is what I have:

I put a set of Napa Premium shoes and Centric drums on my truck and I am having problems. I started with a set of Centric shoes that adjusted tighter and tighter, even when braking going forward. I could hear the adjusters whenever I started from a stop. I determined that the shoes were causing a problem by putting the original shoes back on the truck.

I bought a set of Napa shoes and put them on the truck. The truck will coast in neutral and I don't hear the adjusters. The brakes feel good. The trouble s the left brake I'd dragging. We used a non-contact temperature sensor and got 260 degrees on the left and 160 degrees on the right after a short test drive. I swapped the drums left to right and got the same result. I didn't measure he temperature of the drums before I started the brake job. I drove home from my friend's house at the end of e day.

I took it on the highway and felt a vibration that wasn't there before I changed the brakes. The brake smell is noticeable and I can feel the heat off the drum on the left side.

I compared the brakes to my friend's 1996 2500 5 speed that has original brakes. This is true because he bought the truck brand new. My brakes are identical to his so I know that I installed mine correctly. My parking brake cable isn't tight and there is slack in the center bar so the brake shouldn't be causing the problem

I am at a loss to what is causing this problem. Des anyone have an idea of what I am doing wrong or missing?

 

The shorter surface shoes go on the front side and the larger go on the back. Check that they aren't all the same size, but this can be a problem.

Also, make sure you put the starwheels and adjusters in correctly.

 

Sounds like you didn't adjust them right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCpCkun2qxA

 

The shoes were put in correctly. I left them a little loose and backed the truck up three times to use the self-adjusters. They tightened up and feel firm.

The thing that is confusing me is the drums both slide off easily even after using he self-adjusters but it smells like burning brakes and s hot on the left side. What is going on with these brakes?

 

K, I'm not criticizing your wrenching ability, just offering advice "over the phone" so to speak.

If they are coming apart easily, that means they are not dragging, and thus in adjustment, or way loose.

My next step would be to pull the drums and do a comparison to the FSM pics, or pics you took before pulling them apart, considering they were working properly at that time.

I would then check the wheel cylinders for proper function. If one is corroded in the sleeve it will not back off easily. I would check the other one for air one more time......

 

I didn't say that I thought I may have bad hydraulics so I changed the rubber hose from the frame to the axle, wheel cylinders and flushed the fluid.

As far as checking against the FSM I did that and used my friend's 96 which is original. He bought it new and never changed the rear brakes. We put them side by side facing opposite directions and pulled the drums. Both trucks matched.

The brakes feel right and the drums aren't overly tight. Like I said I can remove them easily.

I just got off the phone with a friend who is a professional mechanic. He said he as had bad experiences with Centric rear brake components. He suggested taking the drums back and going with all Napa parts. With bothers me is I swapped the drums left to right and the left side was still hot not the right.