I've been noticing when I step on the brake pedal sorta hard that the right rear brake locks up. Has anybody had this happen? ABS seems to be working fine on the other wheels and I see no evidence of seal leakage on that hub. What gives?

 

I recently had the brakes done on my 03 edge and was told my rear drums needed a good cleaning as they were not always engaging. Not sure if it would be similar but thought I would throw it out there.

 

Apart from the obvious checking of the brake linings, also pay close attention to..

- Frozen or binding parking brake cable
- Leaking Wheel cylinder
- Leaking Axle Seal
- Frozen adjustment mechanism
- Brakes out of adjustment.

It only take a tiny tiny bit of fluid to get on the shoes, and cause them to be "grabby"... if the wheel cylinders even look the slightest bit damp, use a small screwdriver and pop the bottom half of the rubber boots off the housing. A tiny, tiny bit of moisture is normal, but if it's enough to cause even a small droplet, then it is leaking. If that's good reinstall the boots and try moving the tops of the shoes back and forth, to make sure the wheel cylinder isn't locked up (you don't have to move it much).

If you can't find anything wrong, clean all the dust off, reinstall the drums and wheels, and adjust them properly.. I usually adjust it while I'm spinning the wheel, and typically give them an extra two or three clicks after I start feeling resistance from the brake shoes making contact. There should be a slight amount of drag, but not so much that it take great effort to spin the wheel.

Good luck

 

I checked everything I could without getting too deep into it. Fluid is good, brakes look fine, no sign of leak at the wheel cylinder or axle seal. I know there was a TSB on this issue or something similar, I just don't have an All-Data account. I'll keep digging. Hate to spring the 25 clams for nothing, as it only happens on hard, hard braking or when the truck is loaded down (something I avoid doing normally). If anybody can look it up, let me know!

 

Could possibly just be weak return springs on that side or 1 adjuster is froze. I found when I do a rear brake job that when I remove the springs I drop them & if the make a thud! they are ok! But if they make a ringing sound when the hit they are weak!

Weak springs on 1 side would cause that wheel to engage 1st and tend to lock up. If you got the brakes good & hot ( stuck parking brake cable or such ) that would weaken the springs.

Also if the wheel cylinder on the other side is not working than all your pressure is going to the other side.

 

Hmmm, would this cause the ABS function to not work on the affected side? MIght have to pull both wheels this weekend and have a look-see. The weird thing is it works fine under normal conditions, doesn't pull under braking and I wouldn't have noticed this if I didn't have my kitchen floor (800 lbs of ceramic tile) in the bed and stepped on the brakes barely harder than usual.

 

There could be a couple other factors that could cause the same thing such as

1. brake shoe's
2. Brake Drums
3. Contamination
4. Stuck Parking brake cable ( not releasing all the way )

Just make sure when you take everything apart that it is clean & moveing freely

 

Tada! Seems the problem miracled itself. May have just been a glob of goo from having the tires balanced and rotated recently. Still going to check that TSb one of these days though. Still plan to pull the wheels and hubs down Saturday too.

 

I think that the TSB deals with rear brakes that are extremely grabby when wet (as in from rain).

I know from time to time, when it's rainy, my rear brakes will lock up at the slightest touch of the pedal for the first couple stops. It was real intersting the first couple times it happened, now it doesn't bother me enough to replace the rear shoes with the higher-quality ones called for in the TSB.

 

THAT is what I meant! It was locking up, instead of the ABS kicking in and pulsating the braking force. I only noticed it when braking harder than normal, and since I rarely have an occasion to do that, it doesn't bother me. Point being, if the fix is free, sure, why not? If not, then I'll do the same thing and upgrade later.

 

If the brakes were done recently, it is possible the shoes were incorrectly installed. The leading brake shoe should have slightly less friction material than the rear shoe.

 

Correct, its about grabby when wet. Its a common problem on Ford brakes in general, according to what I hear. The solution for me has always been to just drag the brakes for only a couple of seconds to get the water out of there. Its also strange that it will sometimes happen on humid days, but not always on rainy days...

 

No brake job, truck just turned 27K. I'm thinking more that it must be the moisture dealio, as it's not consistent. Will do my best to note if it happens during wet/humid weather, though I first noticed it on a *****-hot day in July. I've decided after owning this most excellent truck that the thing I miss most about my '01 with the stick isn't the milage or the tractibility, it's... compression braking! I am acutely aware of how much more I'm on the pedal and am ticking off the days to that imminent brake job in my future. Other than that, I coul care less that the rowboat is gone, gone, gone!