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Some moron, sorry, a confused person, STOPPED his car on I-26 yesterday and I had to jam on the brakes. Apparently, the rear drum(s) locked up before the front, so the truck went sideways on me.
The rear bumper hit the concrete divider in the median:
Guess I must be livin' right because this is the only damage I sustained - in thick, rush hour traffic.
So, I need to adjust the rear drums, at the very least. Probably should go ahead and inspect them as I have heard leaky cylinders can make the shoes stick.
Who's the best supplier for quality brake parts? I want to avoid chinese junk.
Phew! Sounds like your Guardian Angel just got a gray hair. Glad to hear that's all that happened. I don't remember now if you have drums or disc on the front. You have drums up front that need adjusting?
The rears will always lock up first as they are carrying much less weight. And even less still when hard braking.
I got all my brake stuff from O'Reillys and I am satisfied with the quality. Pretty cheap too.
Gotcha. It was fishtailing, first to the right, then left with me doing all I could to correct it with steering. Just seems like it went completely sideways immediately, so I thought it might be a little out of adjustment.
Plus, they're those huge Dana 60 drums, which are designed for heavy loads. Maybe, since I rarely have more than a few hundred pounds back there, they're a bit touchy.
Originally Posted by JEFFFAFA
Phew! Sounds like your Guardian Angel just got a gray hair. Glad to hear that's all that happened. I don't remember now if you have drums or disc on the front. You have drums up front that need adjusting?
Yeah, I know I have someone looking out for me 'caus I survived my teenage years. It's drums all the way around, I'm afraid. Definitely want to upgrade to disks up front, but can't afford the time and money right now.
When the discussion turns to braking and what brakes should apply first, this is where some people start spouting off that the rears should apply just ahead of the fronts. (not).
You just experienced why you do not want the rear brakes to apply ahead of the fronts.
In your case though, it could be that they all came on about the same time (especially if you have drums all the way around) and it was just a matter of being in a panic stop, line pressures to each wheel was high and the sudden shift in vehicle weight unloaded the weight over the rear brakes, making them lock up and skid the backend around.
Glad to hear that no significant damage was sustained to the truck and, more importantly, that you didn't receive any injuries in this incident.
If you had discs on the front (assuming that you don't currently), and if you had a disc/drum proportioning valve installed, instead of a drum/drum pressure differential valve, the risk of locking up the rear brakes in this situation would have been reduced, since the proportioning valve would have regulated the pressure rise to the rears, proportional to the pressure that was being applied to the front brakes.
Gotcha. It was fishtailing, first to the right, then left with me doing all I could to correct it with steering. Just seems like it went completely sideways immediately, so I thought it might be a little out of adjustment.
Plus, they're those huge Dana 60 drums, which are designed for heavy loads. Maybe, since I rarely have more than a few hundred pounds back there, they're a bit touchy.
Yeah, I know I have someone looking out for me 'caus I survived my teenage years. It's drums all the way around, I'm afraid. Definitely want to upgrade to disks up front, but can't afford the time and money right now.
Garrett is right. The rears will lock up 1st in a panic situation. Most of the weight of the truck shifts forward towards the front brakes and unloads above the rears. Usually brake fluid on the shoes acts like oil and makes them slip. Your fronts prolly need adjusting. The only time I've heard of leaking wheel cylinders making brakes grab is my Buddy back in Toledo where I'm from originally. On his 40 Ford Fordor. Rear cylinders leaking and he moved it just enough to get the shoes wet apparently. Then it sat for quite a few months. Next time he went to move it the car would not budge. The shoes soaked up the brake fluid and swelled in to the drums.
If you had discs on the front (assuming that you don't currently), and if you had a disc/drum proportioning valve installed, instead of a drum/drum pressure differential valve, the risk of locking up the rear brakes in this situation would have been reduced, since the proportioning valve would have regulated the pressure rise to the rears, proportional to the pressure that was being applied to the front brakes.
Aha, I understand. Most definitely upgrading to disks.
It was definitely a panic stop. Traffic was flowing at 60-65 across four lanes when sum dood stops his car in the fast lane. I had four or five car lengths to work with, but the stoppage was so abrupt and these old trucks just can't slow down as fast as new cars. I try to give myself plenty of room, but people are always cutting in.
I know I scared the folks behind me at least as bad as I was scared and I was expecting to get hit. I felt just the slightest nudge when it came to rest, so the first thing I did when I got home was look at the rear.
It's funny, all the significant damage that I know of on this truck is on that same left rear corner. It's been hit there three times and the bumper knocked off the paint when the spare tire dropped and wrenched the bumper up into the quarter panel.
Shipper did this in transit from California (thanks!). I found an old repair behind the rear wheel when I was doing the body work.
I wonder if I can convince my insurance company to insure only that corner for a quarter the price.
Yeah, i would try to adjust the fronts tighter before I loosened the rears.
Same kinda thing happened to me one time. Some IDIOT went from about 75mph to 20 right in front of me. I had the trailer behind me and there was just no way on earth I was going to stop in time. So I decided to go off-road instead....
Brake fluid is hydroscopic, it absorbs water. Even here in AZ where things are very dry most of the time, my master cylinder is rusty after only 3 years.
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I don't remember now if you have drums or disc on the front.
You have drums up front that need adjusting?
It's drums all the way around, I'm afraid. Definitely want to upgrade to disks up front, but can't afford the time and money right now.
