On my 01 Dodge Ram 1500 4wd with the 360 with drum brakes in the rear I noticed my rear brakes were wanting to lock up on my truck today. I know very little about drum brakes and don't even know how to change the shoes. I've just never messed with them before although I've gotten decent with disk brakes. Well, I pulled the drums off and noticed on the passenger side the lever isn't even touching the adjuster. I thought maybe the brakes had tightened themselves up too much and thats why they wanted to lock up but after taking the drum off I was going to pull the lever away from the star wheel to loosen them and I noticed on that side it isn't even touching the start wheel. On the other side it's tight in there so that the star wheel can only turn one way without you pulling it back.

What would cause this? I can push it up tight against it but it doesn't want to stay there and pulls it back slightly. Everything appears the same as it does on the other side except for this not being tight. Is there anyway I can easily fix this? I'm hoping to get it fixxed tonight but it may not work out.

Here are pics of what I'm talking about. Sorry for the crappy cell phone pictures.

 

i would bend it back but you have to bend it passed the point that yo want it to stay. did yo try spinning the rotors or tires when you had it jacked up? did it feel locked up? does it pull to one side when you brake?i believe with a rear brake kit you get all partseven adjusterso might be time for rebuild hope some of this helps

 

HTM,

The self adjusters on our trucks suck horribly. You'll probably have to replace the self adjuster mechanism and possibly some others as one part affects another, and another, and another. When you take the shoes off and the whole thing just falls off in your hands you kind of get that "Oh, Crap" feeling. Then you have to kind of squeeze it all together at once to get it back together again. I think some engineer way overthought the design on drum brakes.

Replacing the brake shoes can be a bit if a PITA, if you are going to do it, make sure you only do one at a time! That way you can use the other side as a guide to get it right. And make sure that youget that star adjuster TIGHT and push those shoes apart. Check the other side and make sure it is spaced the same as the known working side. I put mine back together with the Star adjuster too loose and it fell out and scored the inside of the drum. $500 later I was back on the street. [:@]

 

Rear Drums are a total PITA. It is the springs that kill me. I always send one flying & got to search forever. Rear Drums is the job they made brake cleaner for too.

Drums are not compliated, Just difficult. If you do your own Disks you can do the Rear. Just follow your Haynes and No prob.

Jeff

 

HTM,

just thought about this. Make sure you don't have a spring installed updie down, I know the springconnectors are supposed to lay flush along the drum. Install one upside down and it could pull on parts incorrectly.

 

And get one of those drum brake spring tools. They're only a few bucks and make the job a whole lot easier.

 

Changed shoes and cleaned parts for both drums in about 45 mins. After you sit down and just do it the first time.. it only gets easier. =)

 

If I had the funds, I would go with brand new calipers, pads, and swap to disc in the rear. but since I'm about 1200 short of that, I have to go about fiddlin with these bastard drum brakes. So I'll keep an eye on this for some updates.