When you did the brakes did you clean and lube the auto adjuster?
I usually put anti-size on when I do drums so that it's not going
start rusting and stick. When you do the 5mph back up hit the brakes HARD
you should hear some metallic pops pull forward and reapply the brakes
and repeat it a few times.

Sean

 

Yeah I put a nice glob of anti seize on them. The passenger side drum wasn't as hard to turn as the other side meaning the shoes weren't touching the drums as much. I will try the back up thing though.

 

dylan, remember that the backing up thing tightens both sides the same number of clicks, or will favor the tighter one. since they're currently set quite differently, it would be best to pull the wheel and get the loose one tightened up to about where the other one is, then it'll be productive to tighten them both by backing up whenever you find it necessary

 

Yeah that makes sense I guess. It didn't seem to change anything when I did it so whatever. I didn't hear any popping of clicking so who knows.

 

I have gotten the auto adjusters to balance the brakes
and not had any problems with that.

Sean

 

Tried to send you a PM your box is full.

Uhm how long since you looked at the front, this 99% of the time is the result of a stuck front caliper. Look at the front brake pads to make sure they are wearing even, same on all pads and same front to back on each pad. This is rarely an issue with rear brakes as even if out of adjustment the pressure from side to side is always even. It would have to be either VERY out of adjustment, sticking some how, or have a shoe installed reversed(rear shoe in front position).

In fact I kinda remember it doing that a little when I drove it around a bit, not sure though it's been a while

As for rear adjustment it's very good that you put anti seize on the adjuster, and yes by the arm(in my PM) I mean the metal piece that turns the star wheel. The way they should work is that the shoes moving pulls on the cable which pulls on the arm turning the wheel, so whenever the shoes have to move too far the cable pulls the arm, turning the wheel, tightening the brakes.

With the adjuster lubed you should be able to turn the star wheel with a screwdriver. It should sound like a ratchet when you do as the star wheel clicks against the adjuster arm. Just turn until you get a slight drag when you spin the tire. You CAN NOT properly adjust the rear brakes without the drum and thus the wheel and lugs tight. However chances are that you are fine, they should have adjusted themselves by now if you have been driving it. If they haven't adjusted themselves by now then you should inspect the self adjustment system when you get a chance.

 

Yeah I got the pm box cleaned up.. I always forget about it.

The fronts should be alright but maybe it's time for new calipers and a brake bleeding... Mine are a bit rusted. The passenger side is pretty out of adjustment I think, before I get too deep into it I'll try adjusting it till there is a little resistance, the driver side had a little when I did it but the passenger didn't. Before all this I think it would a little but it was only once in a while, not all the time. With a stuck caliper wouldn't it be pulling all the time? It drives pretty straight till the brakes are applied. And I have to be going pretty fast and hit the brakes hard to get it to grab. Of I press them slowly it usually stops fine which lead me to think the one side wasn't adjusted right and took a tiny bit longer to reach the drum.

 

What will often happen with a sticking caliper is it will drag just slightly, not enough to really notice while driving. But what it will do is heat up that pad and rotor. So when you go to apply the brakes, it takes a second for both brakes to get to the same temp and thus brake evenly. This is less noticeable on a soft stop as the heat is achieved more gradually.

One of the easiest things to do is feel the heat of your front wheels after stopping from speed without applying the front brakes. Come to a slow stop by downshifting and come to a final stop using the parking brake(rear only) Then hop out and feel how hot your wheel, hub, brakes, etc are, both sides should feel the same temp. Careful can be hot, don't burn yourself.

Course you can do this on the rear to, just can't stop without applying the rear brakes but they should be the same temp after a stop.

 

I got a nice warm garage but truck is to tall to fit in the garage :-( pulled driveline, drained torque converter and drained transmission today. Really with they would put a drain plug into the pans so its easier to drain lol gona pull it after work tomorrow if its not raining to hard..

 

well boys, hope you get your brakes worked out.

tonight i reached for the torch and started building a new winch mounting plate to go with my new winch. i thought about using a piece of 8" channel for a base, but decided i didn't want to have to wait till i happened to be somewhere that sold steel, so i looked around the metal pile, and found a nice piece of 3/8 plate measuring 11x12". so i decided that a 12" wide plate would be enough, with some kind of tube coming outboard of that for handles. i took the torch and tried to heat it enough to bend the front few inches up to support the fairlead, but couldn't get enough heat into it to bend it, so i decided to cut most of it, just leaving an inch at each end, then it bent easily to where i wanted it. then i burned in the holes for mounting the winch and the fairlead, and realized it was after 11, so i decided to call it a night, and tomorrow i'll finish the job, welding it up solid, mounting a 2" square tube to the bottom of it, and reinforcing all around the bottom with some flat bar sitting on edge so it'll be stronger than hell

 

you must have missed my recent thread on the easy/clean way to do the job https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-big-mess.html

 

Bute, I could try that I guess. I don't know how far I would get without applying brakes though. I suppose the best time to try it is after work on my way home, I can pick up some speed on the main road for my house then just coast to a stop on the shoulder.

 

boooooo yaaaaaaaaaaa

 

Dylan,
It seems I may of waited too long to go to Costco and buy
flashlights. They are out of the C cell twin pack and it looks
like they are not going to bring them back in. They have a
lot of the three pack AAA ones @ just under $20.

Sean

 

Aw shoot. Oh well. Maybe they are on amazon or something.