02 Rear Drum Brake Issue

[Portugue]

Hey Guys. I recently replaced the rotors on my truck and while I was at it, I figured I'd inspect all the brakes. I've got about 96k and still have the OEM pads in the rear drums. They still have about 1/2 pad left in them. However, I noticed the driverside rear was sticking, in other words, when I'm driving and come to a complete stop, I can hear a clunk coming from that side (its not the slip yolk). Jacked up the rear and my dad listened as I hit the brakes and sure enough it stuck at a stop and also was catchy before the wheel started spinning, sorry for not being more technical. Another observation is when I slammed the brakes the passenger rear would instantly lock up and the driver side didn't, it just slowed quickly to a stop. I sprayed brake cleaner liberally and tried to lube the contact points without removing the pads since I was running out of daylight.

Now with all this, I had the rear parking cable that was dropping and sure enough I have a stuck bell crank on that same driver side drum. I've got the "How to" and going to fix it this weekend (great write up btw ).

Is the driver side rear sticking due to the bell crank? Anything else I should look for in the drum that could cause sticking? It all looked pretty good when it was cleaned off. How long do these rear pads last?

Thanks.
Joey

[MEvang]

While I was reading your post I was thinking bellcrank. Fixing this will likely help, but you might want to inspect the wheel cylinders also. You can have one piston seized in one WC. Pull the boots back look for fluid leaking or a build up of rust. If it looks good, manually push the shoes back and forth moving the pistons with the shoes. This will verify that the will move.
Finally after fixing your bellcranks, lightly sand your brake shoe surface and drum surface with 180 grit sand paper. This will remove any glazing that may continue to cause the shoes to stick.
Mike

[Portugue]

While I was reading your post I was thinking bellcrank. Fixing this will likely help, but you might want to inspect the wheel cylinders also. You can have one piston seized in one WC. Pull the boots back look for fluid leaking or a build up of rust. If it looks good, manually push the shoes back and forth moving the pistons with the shoes. This will verify that the will move.
Finally after fixing your bellcranks, lightly sand your brake shoe surface and drum surface with 180 grit sand paper. This will remove any glazing that may continue to cause the shoes to stick.
Mike

My dad and I checked to make sure the cylinder was working. We popped the drum off and lightly pressed the brakes while holding the shoes, they both moved out smoothly. Thanks for the tip on sanding the shoes.

How long do these shoes typically last? I'm kind of shocked there was so much life left in the pads. I haven't lifted the rear or anything that would alter the bias. BTW, excellent writeup for the bellcrank fix.

[Portugue]

Hey Mike! Got the bell crank off fairly easy. That boot was full of sand and debris...what a mess. I can't even get that pin loose, going to my dads in the morning we should be able to pull it apart.

I adjusted the shoes and also sanded them a bit and still the driver side drum slows to a stop while the passenger side instantly stops. I inspected the cylinder, no leaks or rust and I can push the pads in both directions. I'm wondering if my adjustments are still off. Any ideas?

[MEvang]

The adjustment still could be off, I take it you have the bellcrank off and have not reinstalled it yet. When adjusting, stop and hit the pedal a few times, this will center the shoes and many timed you'll find that you can get much more adjustment.
If things still don't seem even try swaying the drums from side to side.
Mike

[Portugue]

life is all good again mike! Pedal is firm and brakes feel so much grippier. I tried the auto adjusting and I think it actually worked. Going to double check tomororw...it was freezing today! Thanks for your help.