Just a Rant on Drum Brakes

[SwampSurvivor]

Next year update!

So I have dealt with them backing off since I posted this topic. Any time I would tow , I would just adjust them back on and it would work until then.

I posted up one one of the Jeep forums about it; this is quite a common problem that seems to be somewhat well known. Napa kits seem to work.

A few weeks back a friend of mine who has the same exact Jeep (year, color, even poop tan interior - yuck!) was having issues with the drum brakes. The hardware kit he had was doing the same thing.

He had a 1995 Wrangler in the driveway with almost new rear drum components. We swapped the components from the Wrangler onto the Cherokee and they worked.

I picked up a new auto adjuster kit , springs from Napa and new shoes from Autozone. Will be doing them tomorrow. Hopefully they will work as expected!

I will be putting a pretty significant amount of miles on it this summer, so having working brakes would be nice. As long as gas prices stay low and it doesn't break down, I plan on DD'ing it as much as I can. And there's 4 or 5 trips planned that are >100 miles away so it's going to get its use!

 

[Nick1994]

My grandfather's 96' Cherokee always backs off on the rear brakes. That little adjuster arm that is supposed to hook onto the adjustment star doesn't work on either side. When I lock up the brakes the fronts skid, so the rears probably don't hardly work. Thanks for the tip on the NAPA kit, I might pick one up.

 

[thescreensavers]

That sounds like it works normally. Drum Brakes can lock up sooner so there is a proportioning valve to limit brake pressure to the rear. The Fronts should always lock up before the rears.

I bought the cheapest rebuild kit on rockauto for my rear drums + wheel cylinders its been 2 months and they still work flawlessly. No more diving because the rears were not working at all before( Bad prop valve and everything was rusted in place hah)

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
My grandfather's 96' Cherokee always backs off on the rear brakes. That little adjuster arm that is supposed to hook onto the adjustment star doesn't work on either side. When I lock up the brakes the fronts skid, so the rears probably don't hardly work. Thanks for the tip on the NAPA kit, I might pick one up.


As far as I can tell, the cable guide on the napa kit is bigger on the Napa kit and that helps keep tension

 

[SwampSurvivor]

So drove the Jeep from my parents to my place. About 65 miles. The previous hundred times I have done the brakes, they have stopped being effective about half way home. They worked, very well, the entire way.

This thing stops seriously well. Before , I was having to push the pedal almost all the way to the floor. With the adjusters backed all the way off, I would have to fill up the wheel cylinders and max them out before the front calipers even started to get pressure.

It was , exactly that. The Napa kit worked perfectly on the right side. The cable was a bit shorter, the cable guide was a bit larger and the adjuster wheel is bigger - but only by 1/16'' if that.

The drivers side was a bit more tricky. I ended up having the same problem again. While the cable guide was larger on the drivers side kit, the cable was 1/8'' longer. Enough to make the adjuster arm not be near the wheel.

Used the cable that was on there before and it's touching the star wheel. Not as engaged as I'd like but it always catches the wheel and adjusts.

 

[DoubleWasp]

Originally Posted By: ronbo
Hate drums brakes. Last vehicle that I owned was over 15 years ago that had them. Surprised me that the new design 2016 Toyota Tacoma will still have them.


Trucks are probably always going to have drum brakes or "drum-in-hat" e-brakes on disc brakes in the rear. Drums hold better than discs, and part of the trailer rating system on a truck is the e-brake's ability to hold a load on an incline or decline. You can have a truck that can haul a freight train at Mach 1, but if it can't hold a hot dog stand on an incline/decline, it's trailer rating will be practically nothing.

 

[DoubleWasp]

Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
Drums are really difficult to service. Discs are MUCH easier.

In many cases it's actually easier to just convert them to discs.


We have several garages near us that have a sign stating that they do not service drum brakes.

Messing around with those springs on the larger units can be downright dangerous. Once while pulling a spring, it broke in half and the hooked end of the spring ended up lodged in the lens of my safety glasses. In the rare event I find myself doing a drum brake, I wear a riot gear face shield I got from a retired police officer.

Sounds stupid, I know, but I'll never forget what could have happened had I not been wearing safety glasses.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
Drums are really difficult to service. Discs are MUCH easier.

In many cases it's actually easier to just convert them to discs.


We have several garages near us that have a sign stating that they do not service drum brakes.

Messing around with those springs on the larger units can be downright dangerous. Once while pulling a spring, it broke in half and the hooked end of the spring ended up lodged in the lens of my safety glasses. In the rare event I find myself doing a drum brake, I wear a riot gear face shield I got from a retired police officer.

Sounds stupid, I know, but I'll never forget what could have happened had I not been wearing safety glasses.



When trying to affix the spring to the adjuster arm, I did manage to put a hole in my thumbnail. Quite painful. It popped off.

18 wheeler drum brakes are scary. Those have a serious set of springs inside.

 

[thrace]

Quote:
The piece circled in black is the one that keeps rotating around.
Don't know if it is the same problem I had, but I think you are referring to the cable guide. Found a similar issue on an old Chrysler. It is not symmetrical and can be installed and rotated to the wrong position. There is no mechanical stop. If you rotate the cable guide, the cable which wraps around becomes longer or shorter. Cable leads to lever on the star wheel to prevent brake shoes from loosening.

On the Right rear brake, my cable guide happened to position itself correctly. The left not so. Had to rotate it counterclockwise to get the cable the right length. The spring hooking to the top of longer brake shoe might press on the cable guide to keep the cable guide in the correct place so I have not had to re position anything after finding out about the rotating cable guide. Installed no new parts except rear shoes and wheel cylinders.

Maybe putting some dimples in the shoe side of the cable guide would prevent the cable guide from rotating and keep rear shoes in adjustment.