Ford Ranger rear drum leak any suggestions?

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My friend has a 2000 ford ranger 4.0 V6. It has drums in the rear. He said he lost braking on his way home. I went over to help thinking maybe a cracked or damaged rear line and a quick easy fix. Now heres my dillema, brake fluid runs out the bottom of the brake drum. My dad who has mechaical experience says seals. Anybody else have any thoughts or ideas? I have experience working on my own cars but not a Ford Ranger Truck.
 
Wheel cylinders, chaged them in my lebaron a few months ago, not hard to replace , but youll prolly need brake shoes if its leaking bad enough , my brake material seperated from the metal plate
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Originally Posted By: Trav
Quote:
brake fluid runs out the bottom of the brake drum

Wheel cylinder let go, replace the cylinder.


Yep, sounds like a wheel cylinder. Any parts store should have it and they are not expensive.
 
If its brake fluid, you've got a bad wheel cylinder and /or connection/line to said cylinder.

If its gear oil, you've got a bad wheel seal, and will need to replace it.

Either way, if the shoes have seen signifcant fluid exposure, its replacement time.
 
If it were wheel seals he'd still have brakes on three wheels. Wheel cylinder time.
 
Like others have said, wheel cylinder. We stock them for both drum sizes. The parts house will need to know if you have 9 or 10" drums. Also you will probably have to replace the shoes due to contamination. Take a close look at the hardware and pick up a combi kit with all the new springs while you are in there.

Look at the axle seal as well, just thought of it. If it is leaking now is the prime time to change that as well.
 
I just finished doing rear brakes on a 94 ranger (9 in.) due to a leaking wheel cylinder like you described. I planned to just replace the 1 cylinder, pads and hardware but ended up doing both cylinders, drums and both brake lines also. The lines were rusted to the cylinder and twisted/broke when trying to remove them. I used 2 40 inch brake lines from Advance and bent them by hand. I also bought a $15 drum brake tool set from Harbor Freight that was junky but helpful. This was my first experience with drum brakes and it could not have gone worse, but I learned a lot about ranger rear brakes and can answer any questions if you have them. BTW 9 in. brakes have fins on the drum, 10 in. are smooth. I bought Wearever parts with discount codes from Advance Auto.
 
Originally Posted By: 97prizm

My dad who has mechaical experience says seals.


Well, you dad is correct if the cups in a wheel cylinder can be called seals.
A couple of years ago I put in a wheel cylinder kit in my Aerostar. Since I had a wheel cylinder hone, the total cost was right around $2 because Autozone happened to have the wheel cylinder kit in stock. The brake shoes cost extra, of course, but they will need to be replaced if you install a kit or a whole new wheel cylinder.
Seriously though, probably the best fix is a new wheel cylinder.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
Kits and honing are fine, just make sure you can loosen the bleeder first.
One of my first mistakes when i was a pup.
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Pretty sure I made that mistake also once.
The worst part about it is that I live 25+ miles from the nearest parts store......
 
I would recommend replacing all the brake hardware while you are doing all those other repairs. Numerous times I have had to stop in the middle of a drum brake repair because some old spring snapped. Other times, the brake shoes are fine, too bad some cable has stretched excessively due to age.
 
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