I changed out a tire today on my 99 ranger and while I had the rim off my buddy Joe walked over and slid the drum off as easy as pie,,, every time I ever did a brake job I had to losen up the brakes with a brake spoon then some times beat the drum lose,,, pads looked ok a little wear on them but lots of shoe left,,, is this a problem or should all brake drum removal be this easy ?????????

 

Doe his mean the adjusters are not working right ????????????????

 

Most times when the drum won't go past the shoes, there will be an area near the inner edge of the drum inner diameter that has not been worn by contact with the brake shoes. In effect the shoes then ride in a groove, the width of the friction material. To get past the un-worn area of the drum, the adjuster must be loosened to allow the shoes to contract to less than the diameter of the un-worn area.
If you have not gotten a lot of miles since the last shoe replacement & drum 'turn', the un-worn part will be almost at the same level as the wearing surface.
If your rear brakes are not used much, they will last a long time, and you won't get the edge formed.
If your adjuster is not working, the shoes will already be 'retracted' and will allow the drum to slide off easily. Check that the 'star' has done some moving from its 'base' position when the shoes were installed. If it was jammed tight in the 'loose' direction, the motion of the adjuster arm may not be able to break it loose to perform the adjustment. The star should turn readily with finger manipulation. When re-assembling, I will clean the mechanism, the threads, and the inside of the small end piece. I then place just a dab of grease in the end or on the stub near the star, and a small amount on the threads before I run them into the adjuster.
If you have any 'excess' pedal travel before the brakes start to apply, you might want to check that the master cylinder doesn't need bleeding. Air in the disk side of the master will tend to limit the pressure applied to the rear shoes. The pedal puts pressure in the calipers and once that has happened, it puts pressure on the rear brake piston (front) in the master. Bubbles will compress, and delay rear brake application, and limit how much pressure is developed to a degree. I note this as I had air. Could not bleed the calipers after replacement and get a good pedal. Replaced the rear wheel cylinders, bled the whole thing, and still a 'rubber' pedal. Finally bled the master. Whoah. And I mean that exactly. The brakes worked better than they ever have since new. Rear shoes were ruined by the fluid but had a LOT of friction material at 75k miles. "never been used...?" Big difference.
tom

 

Thanks Tom good info on the wear on the drum ,,I will check to make sure the adjuster will turn free,,brakes seem to work fine and stop the truck without squealing or grinding

 

I wonder if this 99 self adjusts in reverse when the brakes are applied or does it only self adjust when/if the parking brake is applied.
I hear this was a real problem in flat areas like Florida where parrking brakes are not used so much. The fronts would end up doing all the work

 

All of the 'self adjusting' drum brakes I have seen will adjust 'one notch' on the star wheel at every application backing up. IF there is enough clearance between shoe & drum to allow the two shoes & the spacer to move CW on the drivers side and CCW on the passenger side enough to let the adjuster move past the edge of one of the nibs on the star wheel. When applied, the rear shoe, center adjuster and the front shoe rotate, or try, keeping moving with the brake drum. The whole thing has a cable affixed to a stationary peg, the other end on the adjusting arm. If the shoes move enough, the cable will hold the adjusting arm still, the star wheel will move down just enough for the adjusting arm to catch one of the pins, and when the brakes are released and move back into 'at rest' position by the springs, the arm will force the start to rotate a tiny amount.
Each and every application that moves the shoe assembly enough will move the star wheel. Once per application.
tom

 

I have a fair amount of experience with Ford truck drum brakes. I have always been able to pull off properly adjusted drums, but with some difficulty. I pull on one side of the drum while hitting the back of the other side with a hammer. The jarring and the tension causes the small lip on the drum that can be behind the inside of the shoes, to jump up on the shoes so the drum can be pulled off.