shoes too tight on drum

So thanks this helpful forum I believe that I've figured out why my driver's side rear wheel heats up after trips.

How difficult is it to fix this problem? I'm not great with car repairs but I do know my way around tools and have done minor technical things like fixing broken tailgate. Would you recommend that I take it to a mechanic to get it done?

edit- It's a 95 Taco 2wd 4 liter.

 

easy. There is a small rubber stop on the inside of the drum. Pull it out then look inside. There is a small notched wheel on the inside. with the rear end jacked up use a screw driver to turn the notched wheel. This is the adjuster for the rear pads. Spin it till you can turn the drum and not have it rub.

This is the notched wheel i am talking about

Front diff-3.jpg by Monte Nickles Photos, on Flickr

you will barely be able to see it from the outside.

 

Possibly stupid question, does the wheel need to be taken off for the shoes to be adjusted?

Thanks for the help.

 

No. It's actually better to do it with the tires on.

 

I didn't see your previous post; but I am a bit confused. I don't know how long your problem has been going on; and also how long since you serviced your brakes, or even had the drum off.

I'll explain. If your problem just started and you haven't had the drum off; there is a very slim chance that the adjustment is too tight. It may be tight to get the drum off; but you have a problem and not just an adjustment.

Your 1995 truck will have automatic self adjusters on the drum brakes; it is hard for them to adjust the shoes too tight. Possible but hard to do.

There is a greater chance on a 1995 vehicle, of any kind to have a mechanical problem with the shoe attachments or a frozen or sticking hydraulic brake cylinder.

The cylinders sometimes get caked with sludge from dirty brake fluid and moisture. If the internal brake cups and seals don't move freely your brakes will drag, as you say they get hot.

You can apply more pressure with your foot through the master cylinder to force sticking cups to move outward ; but to pull the cups back all you have, are the shoe return springs. Not as great as your foot and master cylinder.

Hence the mechanical problem: the springs may be weak ( on there since 1995), or a rust or dirt problem exists.

When was the last time you changed the brake fluid? Did any rust come out when you changed the fluid last time. If you saw any rust in the fluid; you certainly have some brake cylinder problem.

Take the drum off and see if the cylinders are functioning properly; if they are sticky, no adjustment is going to fix it.

I have seen cases of off-road trucks that the brake drum was packed solid with mud.

If this is your first time, working on brakes; have someone (mechanic/technician) check it for you, Just for safety.

 

^I had the rear drums replaced recently. So that's why I leaned towards the break shoes being too tight on them. I'll be sure to check everything you mentioned though.

edit- you may have a point because sometimes the wheel isn't as hot as other times. most of the times it gets hot but other times it's only warm but still warmer than the other side.

 

well the bad news is if its getting hot on you then the new pads you had put on are glazed over and need to be replaced.

DO NOT GO BACK TO THAT OTHER PLACE, they are idiots and messed up your brake job so don't risk letting them do it again.

what happened was they did not readjust the brakes so when they replaced them they were set too tight (because the new pads were thicker) and dragged on the pads causing them to heat up and overheat which will glaze and ruin the pads very quickly. all the idiot needed to do was screw in the adjuster pictured above a few turns and you wouldn't be having this trouble now. I just hope for your sake the drums haven't been warped from overheating because of that idiot mechanic doing a bad break job for you.

don't try to just loosen the pads now because glazed pads don't give you good brake friction and are not safe, they need to remove the wheel and drums and see what damage has been done, if you are lucky all you need is another set of new pads put on by a different mechanic that knows how to do brake jobs.

 

I followed Blackdawg's instructions and had some success. I did manage to have the wheel rotate with less friction. BUT I now believe that the problem isn't the shoes being too tight.

When I spun the wheel in question it would spin freely for half the rotation and then tighten up for the other half. I looked this problem up and it could be an out of round rotor or drum. Or uneven wear on the disk. I'm leaning towards these possibilities because I think it's related to my brakes pulsating.

 

as I mentioned in my post the overheating ruined the pads and in this case it sounds like it warped the drum.

just to confirm its the drum remove it then spin the hub and it should not bind anywhere when it turns