96 F350 single rear wheel diff. standard cab long box 7.3 5 speed 4X4

I have replaced every piece of the braking system on the rear differential and yet to get it to work properly.

I can adjust the adjusters with the brake spoon and the wheels grab. Go drive it around and come back and they are unadjusted almost further then when I started. Setting the parking brake several times also greatly reduces braking ability and it too does not even work or hold any pressure.

There is no new air in the system, it was all gravity fed and then bled manually several times each.

Could the parking brake cables be too long? can the adjusters be reversed? I checked the rotation of the adjusters before putting the drums back on to make sure they were spinning in the right direction.

Also doesn't help matters that the hub seals have both failed for the 3rd time. why they keep failing is beyond me. they are installed as per instructions and absolutely no burrs or knicks to the spindle its self.

 

What hub seals are you using? I installed the ones from advance auto on mine. They didn't work. They were a one piece seal. The ones from the dealer were totally different and worked fine.

 

My rear brakes will gradually become out of adjustment also. I have to manually adjust them from time to time. It sounds like yours are a lot worse.

 

While adjusting the brakes thru the backing plate with a spoon, they should spin easily with a slight clicking sound while tightening...... If you try and loosen them, you should get a good bit of resistance from the self-adjuster, making it pretty hard to turn. If this is not happening, something is out of place.

 

The self adjusters on these trucks tend to not work well at all. 85-97, same story.
As for the axle seals, make sure you get the good 2 piece ones, Ford and Scot Seal are the good ones. The 10.25 is not designed to have the seal surface ride on the spindle, the inner part of the seal is supposed to press onto the axle and the actual sealing surface is part of the seal itself.

 

Thank you everyone for input. I have located the scotseals and will be getting them tomorrow. As for installing them, I presume I could press them in with a large 3/4" drive socket in a hydraulic press?

I also thought it was weird that the $22 national seals were only 1 piece and not knowing I actually had a 2nd option for a 2 piece. (thank you internet community for making it easy to locate part numbers)

I have one hub off right now, both are terribly soaked from gear lube. the one hub I do have off it looks fine on the mating surface on the diff with a small imperfection of some sort possibly a small rock that worked its way in through the outside. looks like a spiral etching.

I made sure the breather was open too.
---------------------------------------------------
As for the adjusters and rotation and clicking, all is 100% and functioning as it should. drums pulled right off so obviously not adjusted anyways. they were functioning for a few days when first replaced everything but not working since. drums look like they haven't even been used yet with 3 months on them.

its got good firm clicks, they are spreading as I am clicking it. still wondering how or why they don't adjust as I drive it. I mean, they should self adjust some but its also not doing any if anything retracted all the way to full off. (literally they were as in as they could be)

(novel story here, will update on the seals tomorrow when I am out test driving)

 

I'm glad mine adjust right.

They only adjust while backing up, never while going forward.

The brake has to grab though in order for it to adjust.
So if you always go forward and never back, you'll never adjust tight.

you have to mash fairly hard for them to adjust too.
The brake has to grab and twist hard enough out of place to pull the cable to move it up 1 to 2 teeth.

And if the hold down spring sucks to reset the arm, then it wont work at all.
I have issues with the hold down spring, I'll usually bend the hell out of them to make them tighter.

 

You replaced everything ..... ?

If the aftermarket shoes wee not ground to a proper arc you could be experiencing a high rate of wear in the center of the shoes which would make it appear the adjustment is going in reverse when in fact it is not.

The Bendix 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 drum brake is notorious for not adjusting if everything is not perfect .... The length of the cable, the position of the cable eyelet, etc. Make sure the eyelet sits proper, the cable is following the correct path and the adjuster arm is horizontal, which often is the key that something is wrong.

The two piece seals are vastly superior to the one piece. With an older truck if the axles sealing surface has been polished a number of times you may never get a one piece seal to truly seal.

 

I drove all over the metro hunting down those SKF 2 piece seals and ended up paying full blown list price for them at just over $83 for 2 flippin seals.


Right now they are setting on the spindle. I glued them to make darn sure they weren't going to stick together and act as a 1 piece. Kinda stiff and didn't loosen up much when working some gear lube in them.


I also checked the ratcheting mechanism for the adjuster, absolutely no reason why it shouldn't work this time or the first time.

Also when I said I replaced everything brake related in the rear I meant it, brake lines, all the hardware, wheel cylinders, shoes, hold downs, springs, cables, parking brake cables, seals, drums.......

This truck goes backwards as much as it goes forwards so essentially it probably has 500k on it . its a commercial plow truck

 

Are you sure the adjusters aren't in there upside down (or on the wrong side)? If they're in wrong then when they try to adjust they will loosen instead of tightening. Make sure that the side of the little toothed wheel that faces the adjuster lengthens the adjuster when the adjuster moves the direction it should (up if I recall correctly).