Hey all, I have a 1997 F150 5.4 2WD with rear drum brake issues. So, 2 weeks ago (3/16) I replaced the shoes and drums, on the driver side it had gone metal to metal and pass side wasnt far behind. Got it all back together with no issues, everything worked nicely, until about a week later (03/24) the owner said that it felt like they were driving with the parking brake on and could smell brakes, and could tell the right rear was really hot. I drove it myself and noticed it had even started smoking, so I took the drum off, but had to back off the adjuster to get it off, thinking maybe I just accidentally over adjusted this one side, I backed it off some more until it felt good, drove it again and no more dragging brake. Until today (3/29) that is, but he described a different issue- a "bucking" feeling when he took off from a stop, mostly after sitting and taking off from being parked. I drove it and felt this as well but as I drove it it went away shortly after I started driving, and originally it was feeling like it was actually a misfire or something along those lines causing this hesitation feeling, until he went to leave and the right rear wheel locked up, but only when going forward-rolled fine in reverse. Once again I took the drum off, and adjusted the adjuster until it was completely collapsed then turned it out about 1/4 turn, and even then the drum was still hard to slide over the shoes because it was so tight. I drove it once again, and no more dragging/hesitation issues. My question is, what could possibly be causing the adjuster on just the right side to be seemingly overadjusting and dragging/locking up? He said he doesn't use the parking brake often. I also wonder if maybe for some reason the wheel cylinder was getting stuck applied somehow, but as someone pumped the brakes I could see the brakes grabbing and releasing so I don't think its anything like that.. but i'm stumped. I don't get why after some drive time it keeps getting over adjusted like this. Anyone have any experience with this or thoughts?

 

Make sure the shoes are oriented properly, the small (primary) shoe goes towards the front, the larger (secondary) shoe goes towards the back, both sides. Sounds like you may have both secondary shoes on the same side.

 

I believe they are oriented right, I have the style with the adjuster on the bottom and the automatic adjuster cable has the little stud it attaches on so the shoes only went on the one way so im assuming since I have no issues with the other side I would think they're on correctly

 

Doesn't matter where the adjuster is, the pic is just a file photo. I've seen where someone put both primary shoes on one side, both secondary shoes on the other side and have one side only exibit those symptoms. It's very easy to mix them up as the metal part of both shoes are identical, it's the amount of lining on each that differentiates primary and secondary. Secondary shoes have a longer lining than the primary.

 

If you're confident the shoes and auto adjuster are correctly assembled I'd replace the wheel cylinder

 

Okay so I have it apart. It’s really hard for me to tell a difference between the shoes.. the one that I currently have towards the front look like they could be a little longer. I also notice a thickness difference but that’s it. To flip them around the opposite way I’d have to flip everything- the side the adjusters are on, the way the adjuster cable is routed, stuff like that.. am I okay to do that? Will it work fine? Do I somehow have the wrong shoes? Here’s a pic from the driver side with how I currently have it.

 

Update to add I found the old shoes and compared them to what I have now and they are oriented the exact same way the old ones were. Customer never had an issue out of the rear brakes (until they went metal to metal obviously) but it’s been a few years since he last had them done so obviously they weren’t locking up before hand. So my thought is maybe the wheel cylinder is sticking just enough to keep pressure on the shoes and slowly adjusting out which is why he only has this problem every after about a week of regular driving. It’s definitely adjusting it out, last week when I messed with it I ran the adjuster all the way in and left it, and today when i pulled it apart the adjuster was ran out probably 5-6 turns. I can’t think of any other reason why the adjuster would be turning.

 

Another update.. found a forum with a similar issue.. one wheel locking up after driving it and adjusting, and his adjusting arm was tweaked.. turns out it looks like the adjusting arm is tweaked on both sides so just gonna put new hardware in it and see what it does

 

Where is that other forum?

 

Sorry it took me so long to reply.. I can't find it now because it was just suggested under my forum. The adjuster arms did end up fixing my issue though.