Smoke billowing out from the rear drums, woops

[Creager]

Whats up guys.

I just need some insite from people who have been here before... last weekend i drank a little (hapy 4rth!) to much and had a buddy drive me and my truck home. Well he wasnt used to my truck, and i was too drunk to notice but we had drove for about 7-8 miles with the parking brake on.

Yeah it smelt bad, we pulled over in a gas station where smoke was billowing out of the drums. At that point they were toast, he could stand on the brakes; most of the braking power was lost.

So the next day Ol' buddy felt bad for ruining my brakes and helped me try and fix them. We took the drums off, nothing looked out of place, nothing had come unlodged from its spring-action position. So i sprayed them down with cleaner, adjusted the adjuster out to where i could bearly fit the drums on, and bled the rears.

Initially, after we had just ran-through it the brakes felt normal, and power was restored. But as the week progressed they have gotten weaker and weaker, and my parking brake litterally doesnt work.

So im thinking its something mechanically wrong with the brakes... maybe all those lil springs and things got too hot. I mean smoke was BILLOWING out of the drums, and we sat at that gas station for over thirty minutes waiting for them to cool down... they were smoking the whole time!

before i run out and buy new hardware, shoes, and possibly a new parking brake cable i wanted to see others opinions...?

 

[ThespecialistKC]

Hmmmm,
Does the ebrake not have any tension on it, meaning can you push it all the way down, or does the tighten up but it just won't hold?

KC

 

[Creager]

Hmmmm,
Does the ebrake not have any tension on it, meaning can you push it all the way down, or does the tighten up but it just won't hold?

KC

little of both... so yeah it does tighten up, but doesnt hold...

it can kinda hold, but i cant park on any incline

 

[Doug]

The pads are probably glazed over from the heat. Hit them with some sand paper and they should be good to go again.

 

[Creager]

The pads are probably glazed over from the heat. Hit them with some sand paper and they should be good to go again.

awesome... 400 gritt good? or do i need something rougher?

 

[jimbo74]

try readjsuting them...... i recently did my rear brakes..... after i got the drum to sit over the pads, everything was cool and tight, and barely was able to get the drum over the shoes..... went for a drive... no rear brakes! i even tried yanking my ebrake, and nothing..... back to the garage, and tightened up everything again....

oh yeah, since you have old drums on there... be alert there is normally a groove that wears in... this groove will rpevent your testing fitment of the drum over the shoe fitment, but may be totally nowhere near tight once its past that groove and on..... try adjusting it a little bit tighter from the access holes and star wheel through the backside of the backing plate

 

[Doug]

awesome... 400 gritt good? or do i need something rougher?

400 is probably fine, the pads will probably be shiny you want to get all that shinyness off.

 

[ThespecialistKC]

Check and make sure there isn't a seal leak from the axle or the brake pistons into the drum. Sounds to me like it heated up and burned off some grease that was in there. Try the sanding and re-adjusting as stated above, the pads are definitely glazed at the very least. If that doesn't work, replace the rears. It's not that expensive. I would also bleed at least the rears, if not all 4 corners. Heating the rears up that much can cause the fluid to boil and that ain't good for stopping. If you do bleed 'em, don't forget to disconnect the battery first. Can save you a lot of headaches.....

KC

 

[trollkepr]

If it is as bad as you say, you need to pull out the bearings and clean and repack them. The grease would have turned to water consistance and run out. That would have been the smoke. Then for a few bucks, put new shoes on it. Forget trying to remove the glaze, these are your brakes.

Adjusting is not done with the drums off. Put the drums on and tighten the brake shoes until you feel them slowing down the free spinning of the wheel and back off a little until you just hear them touch. This should fix your problem.

 

[Creager]

Yeah i flushed new fluid to the rears last weekend. Worked for a little while!.

The hardware in there is not stock, but it is over a year old. So all those springs might be toast, who knows its like 5 bucks for a rebuild kit haha.

The pads definatly have lots of meat left. I havent gotten around to try and sanding them yet (yesterday was a long day to say the least)

...???

These types of bearings can not be packed (you were talking about the wheel bearings right?), they are pressed into the axle tube and are lubercated with gear oil. I would imagin they would be fine, but removing/inspecing these types of tapered cylinder bearings means Destroying/replacing them. Those bearings and seals are less then two months old.

I can adjust them with the Drums on? how? The only way i can think of do to that is to drive in reverse? There isnt a hole or anything in the back of the drum (besides where the parking brake goes...)

 

[trollkepr]

Is there a small rubber gromet covering a hole? I have to look at mine to see where they adjust

 

[Creager]

Small rubber gomet? on the back of the drum? I dunno, ill take a smoke break in a minute and go look again

All i can think of is the Brake line comming in, the bleeder valve, then the axle tube itself, and the parking brake bore.

 

[ThespecialistKC]

It should be located on the bottom of the backing plate. Usually they are oblong shaped...

KC

 

[Creager]

Its fixed now. I did what doug and mrjimbean suggested.

The pads were pretty glazed over and the drums were grooved. I tried adjusting through the dust hole but i ended up taking the wheel off because its a byotch work through that little hole

Thanks yall...