I've had a funny clicking noise from my rear wheels for the last few weeks that I was thinking was worn rear brakes. I played around some with it today and was finally able to get one of the drums off - although it was reluctant to come off until I took the BFH to it. Which leads me to one of my questions....

In the process of taking the drum off, I broke some of the flange off the drum. Maybe a total of 2-3". I doubt it would hurt anything (that's a question ) but I plan to replace the drums anyway. They are pretty rusty and have a considerable lip around the edge so I think they are due.. Does anyone know a good source for the drums? Nobody seems to stock them so if I have to order anyway, might as well get decent ones.

As for the clicking, unless the other side brakes are worn worse, I'm at a loss as to the noise - it is definitely rear end related and the u-joints seem fine. There was no noise while spinning the wheel jacked up in the driveway. The noise sounds like a paperclip held into the spokes of a bike wheel.

Last thing - how much meat is on the brake shoes when new? Mine are about 1/8" thick but are clean and smooth. I'm changing them but just curious how much meat they start with.

Thanks as always.

Ray

 

The chipped off piece won't hurt anything and if not rusted to bad you could have them turned if within spec's. They will always have a ridge after being in service for a while.

Shoe linings sound like they are just over half gone or so but yea replace them.

The clicking you hear is likely to be a broken spring on the side you have yet to take apart.

Replace the hardware with the shoes, the hardware kit comes with all new springs. If you need new self adjusters you need to order them separate, they are not included in the hardware kit. The self adjuster cable is a separate part as well so keep that in mind.

I will run a old drum once turned true again, I only replace them if they are to far "out" or rusted beyond belief. The drums on these trucks are large and tough, made for long service life so use them again if you can.

I buy all my parts from NAPA, they offer quality parts and I've never had a problem with anything from them.

 

You won't need the BFH and risk ruining the other drum if you back off the adjuster first so that the shoes diameter is smaller than the ridge that you are talking about.

Pull the rubber oval plug on the backing plate and put a fairly large strait screwdriver (there is a special tool for this, but it isn't a necessity) in and turn the star up. I sometimes helps to put a little screw driver in beside to push the adjuster out of the way so that it can spin freely. This porbably doesn't make much sense, but you can look at the other side that is apart and figure it out.

 

What you said makes plenty of sense since that is exactly what I tried before resorting to the BFH. The threads on the self-adjuster turned out to be so rusty that the shoes wouldn't back in enough to get the shoes clear of the ridge. I stripped the adjusting star out pretty well and I even used an adjusting spoon.

Hopefully can get the drums and all the hardware by the weekend - with all of this type of truck on the road, I'm surprised the drums aren't a shelf item but so far, no luck.

 

Made slow and steady progress on the truck yesterday. Found a NAPA store that had all the parts I needed in stock. Drums are $125 list price but got the AAA discount and they went down to $78. Also got all the springs, adjusting kit, shoes and new wheel cylinder. Spent just under $300 for everything for both sides.

I have one side completely disassembled (took a handful of closeup digital photos for re-assembly) and of course broke the brake line getting it off. Got brake fluid all over my newly seal-coated driveway. I had a bear of a time getting the line so that it would stop leaking.

So, no real surprises. Maybe by tomorrow I'll get to the other side and hopefully will find the source of the clicking that led me to do a brake job in the first place.

 

You were correct. A broken lower spring that was lodged in the self adjuster mechanism.

Got both sides put back together yesterday and all I have let to do is bleed the system, adjust the brakes and torque down the lugs. I also need to get a couple new wheel-cylinder bolts since the ones on the bad side now have stripped heads. Had to hammer a smaller socket on them to remove.