Hello From Vancouver Island BC.
This is my first post here I just signed up today hoping to find some answers, ideas, and solutions to my rear brake issue.

I have a Plain Jane factory 1990 F250 4X4 300-6, with just under 140,000km, this model is the light duty 6600GVW, not the regular 8600GVW.
The truck sees about 4000-5000km/year, it is in great shape other than the rear brake issue and factory paint peel.

I have replaced everything on the rear axle, lines from splitter, wheel cylinders, shoes, drums, combi kits, axle seals, e-brake cables from back cover, and I have also taken the truck into the mechanics shop twice over this issue.

At first the rear brakes weren't working at all after the installation of new parts, after a bit of adjusting they worked and I had an e-brake that worked also, but after 1500kms of driving the brakes started locking up with the slightest of ease, so I took it the local mechanic and when I got the truck back the brakes worked OK, but no e-brake, again they started to lock up after a bit of driving (1500kms), again I take it back to the mechanic and now the whole truck shakes violently and the back brakes will lock up with a bit more pressure to the pedal (still pretty easy to lock up) and still no e-Brake.

I've check the front rotors out for warpage, but they're straight and true with plenty of meat on the rotor and pads. It seems to be coming from the back end only.

The mechanic won't help me out unless I pay more, it has already cost me $1000 just on his services not the parts I supplied, and every time I take it to him it gets worse. and the wallet is now drained.
I can rebuild Diesels and gas engines, lift trucks, do brake jobs and what not, but this one is throwing me for loop.

Any ideas where to start or what the trick might be?
The truck is to the point where I consider it to dangerous to drive on the road.

 

OK so just pulled the drums off and gave it a quick go over and all looks good.
I'm waiting for friend to come over and help me out with re-bleeding the brakes and this time the RABS unit, we'll see if this changes anything, I'm hoping so.

 

That is some saga! I only thought I had had trouble with my rear brakes.
However are you confident that the rear shoes are fitted correctly?
The linning on the front shoe(primary) is usually shorter than that on the rearmost shoe(secondary).
Check that first.

 

Yep, looked it all over, measured the leading and trailing shoes and they are in the correct position, but upon fitting the drum back on this morning and readjusting the brakes from the access hole in the backing plate, I discovered that the new drums are warped.
You'd think that the so said Licensed Mechanic would have spotted that one.

Also this morning I noticed the top of the lining backings where the e-Brake mechanism engages, have been shaved off where the e-Brake mechanism makes contact with the metal frame of the trailing shoe, on both side, soft metal or re-built shoes I guess.
When I engage to e-Brake the mechanism travels over top of the metal framing of the trailing shoe, that's a first for me.
Again Mechanic should have piped up on this one.

A little off topic here;
I generally never go to mechanics, because I'm always getting ripped off, and by doing it myself I know what goes into the work I do, but this last two times I didn't have the time, do now.
Th last time I took a vehicle in to a Mechanic was 7years ago, I asked them to hook up my 90 Ranger to the computer and give me a report, nothing more, they said fine that'll be around $75, when I went back at the end of the day the bill was $700, it turned out to be a faulty O2 sensor, I was pissed, I went out to the parking lot pulled that O2 sensor brought it back into the office slammed it down hard on the desk (hoping to break the porcelin inside) through $80 on the desk and told them next time you'll do as your told and left, never to return, bought a new O2 sensor for $80 and installed it at home and all was good.
That is just another reason why I don't trust Mechnics, it was hard enough for me to justify taking Black Beauty in the 1st time for the rear brakes.
I'd have to say it's a sure bet I'll never trust a mechanic again in my life, unless it's a good friend. I've had way to many experiences like that, more than good, something like 4/5, not good.

Back on topic;
Waiting for some new shoes and drums

Question; What would have caused new Drums to warp so soon (3000-3500kms)?

 

Well i have some bad news and a recommendation based on my own experience.

I have 65 Mustang that originally equipped with 4 wheel disc from shelby- but there were nasty brake issues with the other 2 that were previously delivered so they removed the disc at the dealer and installed velveTouch linings and oversized brake drums- they have always worked excellent-

Now comes 1986- I buy the mustang from my folks, do a ground up rebuild, purchase a set of velvetouch linings and replace the all the brake drums- the rears are good old fashion steel, the fronts are the new "compositie material" with a steel inner ring press fitted in.

Yep, 300 miles later I had a driver who cut in front of me on the freeway, had to brake fairly hard from 65 to 35 mph. After driving around the car, I felt a strange feeling- pulled off the freeway looked under the car at the front brakes and found large drum fractures on the sides of each drum (4 cracks on 1, 5 on the other).

Scared to death we limped the car home very slowly, pulled everthing off....and compared these new Raybestos unis to the oem units (which of course can't be found anymore). Found something a little interesting, the oem drums had a DOT compliance spec stamped on the side, the raybestos did not. While Raybestos would not even take a message from myself, the machine shop or the parts distributor what we were able to determine after inspecting over 100 new drums and making a few inquiries that....

!. TRW, Bendix, Raybestos, Auto Specialties, Raybestos, etc. are all purchasing their brake drums from 1 of two foundaries in China (1 foundary installs the steel liners over there, the other shipps the drums and the distributors install the steel liners themselves). in other words it is all the same "junk".

This is happening with all of the aftermarket rotors today (as I discovered as i just purchased replacement units for my wifes 97 cougar sport). I have previously run Brembo OEM replacement rotors that are cryogenically treated at Diversified Cryogenics, making them almost as hard as stainless steel. Unfortunately, Brembo, Powerslot, Raybestos, Bendix, Hawk etc. are all purchasing their rotors from the same foundary in China (with the exception of the $300 each composite high end units for Ferrari, Porsche, etc). I am presently running “Frozen Rotors” from Diversified Cryogenics 888-323-8456. They have a web site at Frozen Rotors - High Performance Brake Pads, Brake Rotors. They purchase the highest grade rotors made, laser mic them for quality, scrap the ones that are out of spec and cryogenically treat the good ones which are now as strong as stainless. I ended up purchasing drums (back in 1986) and all my rotors (since then) from them. Their service, price and quality is excellent as well and have not experienced any further issues.

 

cause of warped drums? Usually would be caused by dragging brakes overheating the drums and then the parking brake applied with the drums very hot causing the drums to "oval".
Another reason may be Chinese made junk.
Warped drums certainly would explain the symptoms.
When you fit the new stuff make sure the parking brake cables are free and are fully releasing.
Good luck.

 

The brake dragging, creating excessive heat and then applying parking brake was my thought also, as for having the e-Brake off when installing new parts, it's completely disconnected at the moment, so I should be good there. Here's to hoping this all works out for the long haul once and for all.

Well I'm off to the garage now for a little monkey wrenching.

 

Here are few picture of my newest trouble after a few frustrating hours of fruitless labour.
In pic 1 the e-brake mechanism is once again trying to chew off the nose of the metal framing of the trailing shoes. (it is stuck on there, the foot pedal has been released)
WHY?????
In Pic 2 the e-Brake mechanism lever is stuck on a bit because the forcing mechanism is riding on top of the nose of the trailing shoes.

In pic 3 I have forced the e-Brake forcing mechanism off the nose of the metal framing of the trailing shoe showing some scaring that occured.

In pic 4 this is what the replaced trailing shoe's nose looks like after 3000-3500kms because of this happening.

The e-Brake just wont work this way, nor will it allow the e-Brake actuated adjusters to do their job properly, I'll be stuck in the same boat again in no time

Does anyone know why this is happening and how to fix it?
I was hoping that I was going to get this solved today so that I didn't miss another day of work, but it looks like I'm back at it again tomorrow, no truck no work.

 

Good quality pics but restricted view so hard to be certain what`s going on.
However, there is a long flat lever that hangs down the shoe from a pivot pin and then the parking brake cable clips into it at the base of the shoe.
Am I wrong in thinking, from your pics, that this lever is on the outside of the shoe (side of shoe facing the wheel)? From memory that lever should be on the inside of the shoe facing the backplate.
If that is the case then you need to switch the shoes from the right side wheel to the left side and the left side to the right.

 

make sure to machine the new drums to be sure they are not warped.

also make sure there are no grooves in the backing plates where the shoes ride.

I always use a light coat of antisieze for all metal to metal contact.

 

I don't think that would work, if the e-Brake lever was between the backing plate and the shoe, I cant image how that could fit, because wouldn't the shoe then not be able to mount on that protruding conical at top and center of the backing plate as they would then be mounted on the outside of the e-Brake lever? I haven't tried it, but that's just what pops into my head when I try and vision that idea. Another thing come to mind the fact that the wheel cylinder would then be in the way of the lever.
Maybe if the levers were to be snugger to the trailing shoe, nope that wouldn't cut it either, then the action of the levers would be bumping into the adjuster and bottom return springs. huh????
I'm pretty sure that the way they are now is the correct positioning of the parts.
Thanks for the idea, I'll go it over in my head when I'm sitting down with the system in front of me, but I'm pretty sure that won't work, I've been wrong before.
I wish I had an illustration of these rear breaks to confirm with.

 

Question in regards to adjusting the brakes via the star adjuster and the little hole in the back of the backing plate.

I tighten the brakes up from the adjust to the point where I can no longer spin the wheel, then I begin to back off the adjuster to where it should freely spin with just a touch of drag, correct?

When I do this the wheel only spins freely for approx.. 3/4 of a turn and then becomes stuck from the drag, I can spin past this 1/4 turn with the use of my hands and then the wheel spin that 3/4 turn freely until it gets to that 1/4 portion and the drag stops it again.
If continue to relax the adjuster to the point where the wheel will spin freely 100% of the rotation with very minimal drag at that 1/4 turn, I have no rear brakes during the driveway test, and the foot pedal (service) go straight to the floor.
These brand new drums, are they warped from the factory? or is this normal and the 1/4 turn of drag will work it self out as the breaks wear in over the 1st couple hundred KMs?
huh?????

 

Is the lever for the e-brake lubed? If it is stuck like that, in a semi actuated position, it might be frozen up. Try taking the pivot and lever out and make sure they are free and lubed up. If they do not move, then that might be part of the problem, causing the brakes to heat up and warp the drums if the parking brake is still partially applied. While it is out, you can check to see if the cable moves freely at the same time.

 

Oh yes, I have taken the whole pivot pin/bushing assembly apart and applied a light coat of neverseize on the parts, the e-Brake cable is only a few months old and works just fine, the e-Brake forcing mechanism is jammed on top of the trailing shoe's nose of the metal framing keeping the e-Brake slightly engaged, I have to force it off the nose by prying back on the e-Brake lever with a crow bar.
If the e-Brake forcing mechanism doesn't jump up on to the trailing shoe's metal framing then everything moves freely without any trouble, but once it jumps up onto the metal framing it binds.
I'm guessing that the nosing material of the metal framing of the trailing shoe needs to be of heavier gauge or equal guage to the e-Brake forcing mechanism in order to keep this from continualy happening, but then there might be a clearance issue between the drum and the shoe when the lining begins to wear a way.

 

My guess would be that the pivot or forcing mechanism may be worn or damaged. If this is happening with different shoes and such, Iyou might want to look at it again and see if the edges of the forcing mechanism are worn or damaged. Just a thought. You also might want to look at the pivot itself to see if it is galled or a groove is worn into it.