i worked at an oreilly store for 5 years until i moved up to the offices, on the cheaper drums and rotors we would normally recomend running them on the lathe free of charge to make sure they were correct because we knew some would have issues, since i got a discount i always got the good stuff

 

Ok, now you guys have me thinking I might have screwed up the shoe install. Obviously I didn't check for the primary and secondary shoes.

The shoes both had portion of stamped steel on them that I assumed was supposed to face out. This would leave only one way for the shoes to be installed. Well, I searched around and found a pic that is pretty close to my setup and the stamped steel that I'm talking about I circled in yellow. As you can see, one of his is turned inside and one faces outside.

Is this what I should have done?




It looks like he has the longer shoe in the rear. Maybe I shouldn't have used the stamped steel as a reference?

 

Here's a generic picture of rear brake shoes.

Notice the Primary brake shoes on the right have less material than the
Secondary shoes on the left. Primary shoe always faces forward.
Both Primary shoes are the same. Both Secondary shoes are the same.

If the shoes are on wrong it would also cause problems with the self adjusting
of the brake shoes that happens when you back up and apply the brakes.

Just something to verify.

 

Is the shake in the seat/ whole truck, or is it in the pedal and steering wheel? Steering wheel is a dead giveaway to front rotors, drivers seat front-to-back shake is usually drums.

I'd take the drums to OReilly (if you have one) and have them turned. I've had bad ones out of the box before too, it's pretty obvious once you drive it.

 

I feel it in the seat and in the pedal. It shakes the whole truck and in the pedal, its a very consistant pulse that feels like it would if something was warped. Like the pedal itself is riding around whatever is warped. Don't really feel anything in the steering at all. I did take the drums back and exchanged them for another pair. At this point I'm doubtful that I got two bad sets but I know it's a possibility.

Tonight or sometime over the weekend I'm going to remove the drums and make sure I've got the shoes installed correctly. After that, I'm going to clamp the brake hose in the rear and drive it around the block. After that, I should be able to narrow it down to the front or rear.

If its the rear, I'll find a place here in PA that turns drums and have it done. If its the front, I'm going to put a dial indicator on the disc and see how bad they're warped. If they're warped, I'll replace them and hope its not something in the hub that's causing it.

IF, after all that, I still can't fix the issue...its getting dropped off at the dealer and they can have a go at it. I'm hoping to avoid that route.

Either way, I'm stuck at work right now and the speculation is killing me! lol

 

Jack up the rear wheels and give each one a spin. look for an out of round condition, maybe a bent axle shaft.

 

Well I checked the drums again and I did have the shoes installed correctly which is a relief.

I pulled the front tires and put the dial indicator on the driver side and got no variation on both faces of the rotor.

I checked the passenger side rotor and noticed right away a tight spot as I spun it by hand. I put the dial indicator on that one and got .005 variation on one face, and .008 on the other face.

Its nice to be able to measure the wobble but I have no idea what those numbers mean or what to reference them to to see if its enough to cause my issue. I think the resistance I felt as I turned the rotor is enough to tell though.

 

The maximum run out should not exceed .005 inches so you
need to have that rotor machined.

 

Cool. Its getting exchanged tomorrow. I'll update this with the results. I hope this is the issue.

 

Something to keep in mind on these trucks is that they did have rear abs brakes, obviously its not going to violently shake the seat as you describe, but the abs is designed to pulse the rear brakes when you stop quickly just something to keep in mind as you troubleshoot the issue.

 

^ Thanks.


I replaced the front rotor and I'm getting the same amount of run out as before. So, either the spindle is bent or my hub is bent. I must have screwed one of them up during removal. I cleaned all mounting surfaces with a wire wheel before installing anything.

I'm at a loss...almost ready to sell the truck. Its been an absolute nightmare from day one and I'm not as new to these things as I seem.

If anyone has any other ideas about why my front rotor is still out of wack, feel free to chime in. I don't want to keep throwing parts at this but its going to need either a spindle or a hub.

 

Update: I quit feeling sorry for myself and went back outside. I found a .007 pinion shim that I had left over from a 14 bolt and cut a third of it off and stuck it in there. The rotor was 180* off so I just marked it with a marker. It took two trys to get it positioned correctly and when I did, I got ~.001 of run out. I took it for a drive and smooooth as glass.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Turns out it was neither the chinese drums nor the chinese rotor that was my issue. It was the hub flange that either I bent, or came pre-indexed to the 1995 rotor that was on there.

 

Good you got her done.

Now, back to Page 1 of this thread. Spktyr wrote:

"There are parts houses selling NOS Ford drums for these trucks for about $20 - you might want to stock up while you can."

How about a link to those?

Roy

 

It varies by week. I suggest sailing the Bay of e and looking for your truck's correct part number.

 

OK, thanks.