yes this should sound absolutely rediculus. my rear drum breaks sqeal like banshees. anyone else have this problem with their ram? it's a 2001 1500 4x4 ex cab short bed. discs up front and drums out the rear. seems kinda lame to have sqealing brakes coming from a truck that just rolled over 30,000 miles. yeah i know i don't drive it much. that and i ride the bus. damn gas prices. damn 360 engine.

seriously though... if anyone has any ideas or reasons that the brakes are sqeallin. POST IT! i want to go to some discs in the rear but i don't want to pay 700 bucks for the conversion kit. SSB is good but pricy.

thanks

 

squealin you say? odd.. constant? or just when the brakes are applied? stupid question but i have to ask it.... the parking brake is disengaged correct? little more details and someone might be able to help you out...

 

it's just when the brakes are applied. i had it checked out at the local dealer and they said it was because they stopped using asbestos for the pads... come on.. nobody could use asbestos for brakes in the last 20 years! so i know that they know crap. so thought i'd see what people here said. i figured it's got some dust or a groove or the likes. probably just needs new shoes but i really would rather not have to pull them apart. you know all those little springs.

 

i thought the same thing but its not really that hard.. mainly do one side at a time they are identical twins the left and right side. pull both drums off and compare eachside.. check the drums for bad grooving and see if the pads are warn un evenly.. get about 4 cans of brake parts cleaner and go to town on them... i mean soak them down... might have a build up of dust or in my case i had bad spring and cause everything to get thrown out of wack so it was tearing everything up... new set of drums from advanced were about 100 bux with warrenty and shoes were like 50 with a warrenty.... slap everthing back on... and check it... GET A HAYNES manual... it tells you how to adjust them properly... theres always arguments around these forums about how to adjust the rear drums but do exactly what the manual says and youll be fine.. but im tellin you that hanyes saved my life a few times... its a godsend. even a chilton will do you right.. hope this helps [8D]

 

thanks that does help. i've never pulled out the drums but i've heard really bad stories. i've got the haynes so it shouldn't be bad. just gotta find the place to pull it apart for awhile. the apartments i live at don't really like people working on their cars in the parking lot so we'll see what i can do. but thanks for your help.

 

yea i hate that... i used to do all my work in the barracks parking lot... the duty hated that.... i was always being told to stop but i kept on going actually i started to make money out in the barracks parking lot by putting in stereos... eventually i was building sub boxes out in front of my room with the car i was working on parked in the handicap parking spot... i mean c'mon.. a handicap parking spot in the barracks parking lot on a Marine Corps base? who thought of that? prolly some dumb jar head.

 

dude that's hilarious...

i've been trying to see if i could do some coustom paint works set up but so far nobody wants me to paint... i guess i'll just keep on stripping and painting my bike

 

You need to pull them apart. When you do, pull the drums off both sides but only take apart one side at a time. This way you always have the other side to look at if you have concerns about how things go back together.

 

i just put new drums and shoes on .. and now for some reason im itching to get a rear disc conversion.... i can never make up my midn

 

hmm well i haven't gotten to them yet but it seems to have quieted down a bit. could be the external temperatures have cooled off here and maybe they contracted enough not to squeal. kinda an odd thought. anyone know where to get some good but cheap jackstands? kinda hard to pull both sides off without doing that. oh and yea conversion would be a really nice idea. the only ones that i've found that were complete and decent systems were from SSB, stainless steel brakes.