Actually 40 years ago I was driving my forest green lowered 72 Lincoln Mark IV with 10" Cragar mags on it (bought it new for $9,000), but it had the same rotors on it for 12 years and I only put one set of pads on it for a grand total of about $20.

 

I can see that. Coooool car!!



So, do you still remember when they made DIRT?

 

ouch! Lol

Actually they made rocks and water and wind to create broken pieces that became the dirt through erosion.

 

Thanks for the picture, it really sends me down memory lane (mine was dark metallic green though.

Actually the making of dirt was a little before my time.

 

I looked for a green one for a minute, but thought this one was cool with the old school mags!

I'm getting to the age that jokes about 'old people' aren't as funny as they used to be...

 

I'm baffled.

I got everything put back together the other day and was bleeding the brakes when the line to the back ruptured. (It was pretty badly rusted.) So I took it to a shop a couple miles down the road to have that replaced and just picked it up today. Drove it to work and everything was A OK.

Tonight, we went to pick up my other car and when we braked pulling into the lot, it sounded like the brakes were grinding again. This is the first day it's been driven since replacing everything, so I KNOW it isn't worn to the brackets again. I also only notice it when slowing to a full stop.

After we got both vehicles home, I took it out again to see what was causing the noise. Going backward, it feels like the rear brakes are catching somehow. When you stop while going backward, they REALLY make noise.

Drove it a few miles up the road and didn't really hear anything from them until I pulled into a parking lot and stopped again. There was just a faint rubbing sound this time, and the noise pulsed. (Runout? It didn't FEEL like it was pulsing though.) Put it into reverse and it groaned again while moving. I was also noticing that I can hear the calipers close if I'm not going very fast. (I'm not sure that's a sign of something bad, but I've never noticed hearing them before.)

The only difference I can tell between when I picked it up and this evening is it rained tonight, so everything is wet.

 

Possibly an e-brake issue? Did you remove rear rotors and look at e-brakes?

 

I saw them, but I don't know much abiut them. That might be a good idea. Going backward did remind me (only slightly) of a small car I used to own where the e-brake froze to the wheel after it had been sitting in the driveway for a few months.

I guess I'll search around here for some write-ups about the e-brakes.

 

E-brake is just a simple drum brake. Maybe look for broken parts in there?

I do a lot of diagnosis and monitoring with an IR thermometer. Not sure it'd help with this, but its worth a shot. By shooting tires, brakes, bearings, diffs, trans, etc at every stop on a road trip - I can see trends and know when to be suspicious. Measuring tires and trailer bearings doesn't add any time to my normal walk-around.

 

Yeah, but I've never worked on drums before.

 

.. and to think it's not actually your rotors but the pad material depositing on your rotors....

 

Buy the drum brake tool kit and do them, I was worried the first time I did them myself. The one I bought even had instructions on how to do them. I suggest buying all the parts even if you don't think you'll need them it's easy to return them and hard to run out for parts with the wheels off.

When I did mine I messed up a star wheel adjuster and had to get a replacement if it hadn't taken me 6 hours to get the drums off I would have been waiting for my wife to get home to but the parts.


This is the kit I bought you should be able to find something similar for half the price in the US

7-piece Drum Brake Set | Canadian Tire


John

 

WOW I am told I charge too much at $9.99 for the same tool kit. OK Made in China but it is the same manufacture different packaging I am sure. I might have to become a sponsor here and start selling some of my wares and pots...

 

Yikes! I found the source of the big noise! One of the two bolts that holds the caliper bracket onto the axle is missing! I don't know whether I didn't tighten it enough or if the shop that replaced the line had it off for some reason. Fortunately I figured it out before it had a chance to do any serious damage.

I just called Advance Auto Parts and they don't seem to carry them, so I'm guessing this is a dealer part I'll have to track down tomorrow.

 

Our friend JimJam found one for his OBS at tractor supply a couple months ago when we discovered the same problem on his truck!