hey guys, I need some help. I have some kind of oil in my rear brake drum. Im not sure it it is from a bad axle seal or the wheel cylinder. in my service manual(downloaded) it just says remove axle shaft. how do you remove the shaft i havnt tried yet do you just pull? Is there a way to tell what type of fluid is leaking? it ate the paint off of my brake shoes so im thinking brake fluid but not sure. any thoughts or advice guys? iv never changed an axle seal or bearing to my truck. 2wd 1500

 

Your wheel cylinder is probably leaking. Pretty common. Oil won't eat paint, brake fluid does.

 

Spray the whole thing down with Brakleen and blow it dry if you have a compressor. After that pull the rubber boots around the WC and see if there is brake fluid leaking out.

 

It can really only be one of two things.

Brake fluid or gear oil.

Check your fluids and that'll give you an idea as well.

 

stick your nose into it and smell it. if it has very little smell its brake fluid. if it stinks like baby **** its rear end oil (no pun intended).

 

Yeah, maybe no pun intended....Butt it is kind of funny!

 

no ***-inine comments please.

 

 

Just got the new wheel cylinders and shoes installed. The old cylinders were both leaking one side much more than the other. I got the drums honed and everthing went backtogether well.(I hope) I just have to have the wife help me bleed the brakes in the am and tighter the e-brake back up. They are self adjusting brakes correct. just back up and apply the brakes a few times and they ratchet tight..??

 

Try to get them close first. Make the rotor slide over tight, you want just a little bit of resistance first. Then backup and put the emergengy brake down. 2 - 3 times should do it.