I did a full rear brake job last winter so the truck would pass inspection. Did pads, drums, rebuild kit, etc. Flushed the brake fluid at the end and the brakes worked better than they had since I bought the truck. Fast forward one year, took it in for inspection and when they did the "skid pad test" it came back barely passing. According to the chart the drivers side rear drum does significantly more braking than the rear passenger side. Could I have done something wrong in putting it all back together? Anybody have any ideas what the problem might be?

I appreciate any advice.

Bryan

 

may have tightened one side's drum tighter than the other causing it to wear faster

 

Maybe blew a cylinder on one side, dont know how much it affets braking power but did you put the shoes in the right spot there should be a front and back shoe, when I opened my drums one side had both the fronts and the other side had both the backs.

I would take off the back tires real quick and the drums and take a look

 

I will have to try pulling them and checking. thanks for a couple ideas. Pretty sure they were adjusted right though cause neither was dragging when I reassembled them. It was like 15 degrees when I was working on them last year so I might have put the wrong shoes in the wrong spots. I guess if I blew a cylinder I might as well do the 3500 upgrade cylinder.

 

If it all looks good when you take it apart, look at the adjuster and make sure it moves and bleed the lines

 

It just hit me, last summer I was changing the diff fluid and as I was backing the truck out of the garage one of the bottles of fluid rolled under my back tire and was run over. This caused one heck of a mess and coated the back wheel with oil. I tried to wash everything down really good but I wonder if oil got in there and contaminated everything? If it did, are the shoes and drums ruined or will brake cleaner fix them? Have a feeling this might be my problem and have a feeling the drum is probably shot.

 

Once brake pads or shoes come in direct contact with oil they should be discarded. Of course, I don't mean a drop or two, but from what you describe it sounds as though it was significant. What state are you in that does such a thorough inspection?

 

put the rear end up on jack stands. remove tire, drum and inspect everything. replace anything broke or worn out. clean everything with brake cleaner. make sure you don't have a leaking rear axle seal and rear end grease leaking. if so, you'll have to replace that seal in order to fix it.

put it back together and spin each tire by hand. manually adjust brakes up tight where the wheel wont turn. then loosen then up so the wheel turns with just a little scrape.