Rear brakes job, adjustments, and E brake

That was some good beer money that went to waste.

 

Hahahah I know

 

If I knew how to change brakes myself, I would change them way more often than I do now.

 

Saves a lot of money. But drums suck

 

Not if you change them at 45k, haha. I have more than twice that on mine and they look only halfway done

 

GOT THE POINT

But while dickin with the brakes I found the wheel cylinder was leaking. And the cause for the drop in fluid.

 

What was the reason for working on the drums in the first place? Just curious since it is incredibly rare for them needing to be touched at that mileage.

 

I was replacing the wheel studs and took off the drum. I noticed gunk and fluid around the wheel cylinder. So I decided to just replace it along with the shoes and drums.

 

I adjusted the star wheel till I got one full rotation, it’s about 15 clicks and then adjusted the cable. My neighbors son is a mechanic. He came over and help me.

 

Damn all you guys know exactly how others use their rigs. This is what led me to believe I didnt have to do mine yet.

60K KM.....38K miles



Thought I only needed to do some light maintenance. Had to replace both rear drums, pads, brake cylinders, self adjusters.....

It sucks to tell others they dont need to do maintenance until such and such miles or KM, honestly you dont know.

 

Looks like someone beat the shit out of that as the backing plate has a huge bent at 11 o'clock.

Leaking wheel cylinder or axle seal?

Don't tell me, you didn't back off the brake adjuster before forcing the drum off with those huge hammers and pry bar.

Hammer mechanics.

 

Oh joy. Looks like gear oil. The smell is pretty distinct. Live and learn, next time you’ll know to loosen the self adjuster.

 

Ewww

 

More than 1 bend on the backing plate we corrected after this was done.

The brake cylinder had assploded and puked all the brake fluid out for me.

Self adjuster was seized. Would not release. Tried for over an hour to do so, sometimes you just have to smash shit apart.


But you seem to know better it looks like, HOW SHOULD I HAVE DONE IT CORRECTLY OH MIGHTY KEYBOARD MECHANIC?

 

I do know better. This "sometimes you just have to smash shit apart." is never a good answer.

The wheel cylinder assploded due to the pry bar and hammers as the shoes were binding on the drums.

Stuck adjuster? Penetrating oil....

Your truck, your hammer. Have fun.

 

Hey why did my wheel cylinder leak!! I didn’t smash it!! Drum came right off easy..

So, just wanted to make the thread to get some help and other could use it if they have same issue. What I love above this forum, we all here to help each other. If we screw it up we help each other get it back together.

Yeah I prematurely did a brake job!! But I learned a lot about these drums. And from you guys. I Found issue that would have got worse over time. Fixed it. Now I have the peace of mind it’s fixed and the for safety of my family when we are riding deep.

@Jimmyh i love breaking shit.. in my line of work if I can’t smash it I blow it up..

 

I was responding to llamasmurf...

Glad you got yours fixed.

 

Self adjusters don’t self adjust all that good. Sometimes it’ll get stuck. The adjuster arm will get a worn spot, the linkage to the adjuster arm will break, lotsa different things to go wrong. It helps to thoroughly clean and lube the self adjuster, or replace if it looks afu. A tiny dab of lube at each spot the shoe touches the backing plate helps keep things moving.
If the self adjuster isn’t working, the wheel cylinder will over extended itself and leak.
First thing, after pulling the drums off, before washing it down with brake cleaner, I’ll take small needle nose pliers and pull the boot back just enough to look and see if it’s wet behind it, holding my breath so I don’t breathe in the dust. I pulled mine a couple weeks ago just to know it’s condition, they were both dry.

 

How often should I have to clean and adjust the rear brakes. About what mileage interval

 

Once a year in normal driving. More if you submerge regularly.

Fronts should be cleaned/lubed annually as well.

Your new drums and shoes should make 100k easy. Then you can reinstall the old drums and shoes. Think of them as spare parts.