Is this that uncommon? I know they're cheap chinese parts but come'on!

95 F250, sterling 10.25 rear end.

I recently gave the brakes an overhaul. Front and rear. New lines, calipers, wheel cylinders, pads, shoes, springs drums & rotors.

I'm getting an almost violent pulsating felt throught the pedal. I'm 99.5% positive its comming from the rear.

I did not adjust the rear brakes when I did them the first time around. I was in a hurry to drive the truck, late at night, and after all the work that I've done, this was last.

When I drove the truck, the pulsating was so bad it was almost not driveable. So I adjusted the rear brakes and drove it again, This time it was much better, definitely driveable, but the pedal still pulsates at higher speeds, comming to a stop. Its a consistant pulse that slows as the truck slows which leads me to believe that its not air in the system or anything like that. I'm going to exchange the drums tonight.

The only thing I can think it can be is, bad rear drum out of the box, or something to do with the new cylinders. When I replaced the cylinders I re-used the little "push rods" from the old cylinders. They were pretty funcked up but I cleaned them up and I'm pretty sure they seated correctly into the rubber seals.

Anybody experience bad drums out of the box?

 

Bad rotors and drums from China are far from uncommon. Seen it numerous times.

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

 

Thanks man, I appreciate the reply.

 

Not uncommon at all. Biggest problem, aside from Chinese quality steel, is most parts stores will store the product incorrectly on its side to save shelf space. They are supposed to be stocked flat to prevent damage. The cheaper stuff has actually warped on the shelf after sitting there for months and sometimes years in the case of older vehicles like ours.

 

Any brake shop could throw those drums on their lathe and check them for run-out or egg-shaped/warped, for a few bucks.

But is it certain that the pedal pulsation is originating ENTIRELY in the rear?

Before anything else, how about trying the brakes with the REAR ONLY disabled? Got a brake hose centrally feeding BOTH sides, pinch it off with vise grips, don't BITE through it, try the brakes a bit while driving thusly. No pulsation, FRONTS are good.

Just a thought. impish

 

Well, I replaced the drums tonight with no change in the pulsating. I'm going to focus on the fronts next.

Impish, I'll give that a shot since its easy enough. I did adjust the rear brakes so that there was some drag on the drums. I rotated each by hand and didn't notice any changes in resistance.

Who knows, maybe the rotors are warped or I messed something up during the install. I think first I'm going to set up a dial indicator and see if It's obvious.

 

Check fronts too.. As you are well aware, it does not take much at all to cause some pulsating. I work on a quick lube rack at a dealership, and our technicians are ALWAYS fixing a problem 2wice when aftermarket stuff was being used. h20 pumps, pulleys, alternators, etc it goes on... The unfortunate thing is the customer wanted to save $20 to $50 bucks by going aftermarket off brand made in china whatever, and ends up buying the factory one anyways, and has to pay for labor twice.
Good luck. Find decent products and stock up while you can while the stuff is still being made in America-It won't be long till it all is coming from overseas.

 

I just had my front end rebuilt; I spent some time hunting down some now-discontinued made-in-USA Raybestos PG Plus rotors because all I could find locally were Chinese products. The only exception was the Motorcraft branded rotors, but those were temporarily out of stock; I have seen and had so many bad experiences with Chinese rotors that I will never put them on any vehicle I have (let alone a 7000lb truck) unless I have no other choice.

 

I just bought a set of Motorcraft drums for my '87, and they are made in China too...

 

Thanks guys. I've always tried to buy the better parts but trying to get this thing on the road, it's been all about quick and cheap. I'm thinking that this was a mistake. I am surprised to hear about how common defective parts are from some of these stores. Definitely an eye opener after busting my butt trying to get this thing done only to have to go back and do it over again.

I'll check the rotors and replace them with with something from the good ole USA. If not, Mexico will do, hehe.

 

250 heavy (i.e. with the Sterling axle) and 350 Motorcraft rotors and drums are still made in North America as of this writing. I have a 350.


I have to say that the brakes are the very last place one should skimp and accept substandard parts. You are trying to stop something in the 5000-6000lb range (in the case of the 250) that is known to destroy buildings, let alone cars, when it hits something.

Generally acceptable countries for brake iron (rotors, drums) IMHO include all of North America, Brazil, pretty much all of Europe, Japan and believe it or not India.

 

Point well taken. Hey, to my credit it does have Hawk pads on it!

 

I've had good luck with Centric rotors, the same company that makes Power Slot. Rock Auto ususally has them and they're a solid, well made product. The ones I bought even had a black coating on the hat to prevent corrosion. I put Wagner Severe Duty pads on my truck and love them so far. Very little to no dust, and no noise or fade. They're designed for delivery, ambulance, and commercial use.

 

If the pulsing is that bad jack the rear up, place jack stands
under the axle. Run the truck up to speed, apply the brakes
and see if the problem is coming from the rear brakes.

If the problem is the rear brakes.

Can you re-install the original drums?
As was mentioned, take the new drums to a machine shop
that grinds drums. They can verify if they are not round.

Also are you sure you installed the brake shoes correctly?
The primary shoe has less material on it than the secondary
shoe and faces forward towards the front of the vehicle.

If you use the emergency brakes manual trans) one of the
cables could be sticking and not allow the shoes to fully
retract.

 

The shoes that I bought are pretty dummy proof from what this dummy could tell. Based on the way that some of the pins get installed, there's really no way to get the sides reveresed. Unless I'm missing something of course.

The E-brake has been completely eliminated from inside of the drum to outside. I haven't replaced anything there yet but everything has been antisezed and is moving freely.

I can't install the old drums. They deteriorated during removal.

I DID notice that my new shoes had funny scuff marks on them which led me to believe that the rear was the problem in the first place. Each shoe, on both sides, has little horizontal "half moon" scuff marks indicating that they were not riding inside the drum correctly. Now that I've replaced the drums again, I ASSume the marks were due to not being adjusted correctly. Like I said, there is no shift in resistance when I spin the drum by hand.

You guys have given me two methods to try in an attempt to narrow it down to the front or rear. When I recharge I'm going to try them and report back. I don't have the ebrake hooked up so that's out as a testing method.