Hello, hoping for some advice on a potentially big problem I have been experiencing!

What I noticed was, my passenger side drum brake and my drivers side caliper seem to be doing all of the work.. If I ride the brakes real hard I can get out of my truck and physically touch my brakes and notice a big difference in temperature.. What is going on here!?

The passenger side caliper did have one slide that was seized. I was able to free it up, and put in a new slide although I cant tell if it helped or not.. Is it possible the caliper was internally damaged?

I just bled my brakes and that did seem to help, but not solve my problem. I inspected both drums, and replaced the star wheel adjusted on drivers side.. The drum on drivers side was a bit grooved but otherwise seemed ok... Im sorry for the long rant, but this one really has me stumped.. Im leaning towards a bad caliper but wanted to get some opinions.. Thanks!!!

 

So, did you replace parts on the front right and now the front left is acting up?

Make sure that your rear star adjusters are in the correct way. IIRC, they should be opposite of each other on the right and left sides. Adjust the rears so that they do not even rub slightly, back up several times (coming to a complete stop each time, I guess this is important) and see what happens. Do they start to rub? Only on one side?

 

I only replaced a caliper slide on the right front. Thought that would do the job, but I dont think it has. Its still the right front that doesnt seem to be working properly.

As for the drums, I have always adjusted mine manually.. Just because no one I know seems to rely on the star adjusters to actually work as intended.. I did this the other day, but I cant tell if something is wrong with them too. If the passenger side calipers locked up, wouldnt both the drums work evenly.. Or no? The right rear and left front get way hotter than the other 2 wheels.

 

The rears are separate from the front ( Dual master cylinder ) so if either goes out (front or back) you still have the other ( front or back) to work. So you issues is solely the 2 that are having issues. If one drum is tighter than the other or no fully releasing it can drag. Did you lube the backing plates where the shoe rubs? Clean everything with brake cleaner to remove debris and rust?

the front calipers, did you lube the pins so the calipers float freely and not drag or hang up ( pins aren't grooved from wear? A sticky piston will cause the pad to drag, a caliper pin that's rusty and not lubed can cause the caliper to freeze and one pad to drag. Are all the rubber lines good, not twisted or pinched, also the inside of old rubber lines can fail and cause a blockage which holds pressure and created a drag as well.
Any metal lines damaged, dented, pinched?

 

One other issue I can think of is mixing brake fluids ( DOT3 ) with others and they gel... not good.

 

How old are the brake lines? (soft lines.)

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys. Brake lines were replaced last summer, braided steel lines... Shouldnt be an issue. No kinds or bends or leaks in any of the lines. Brake fluid should be all consistent, I always use a whole bottle to flush all the old stuff out. All brakes are properly greased, but their could still be a problem with that one caliper.. I'll check to see if the slide siezed up again or not.. But that caliper isnt getting hot like the drivers side is.

Would the drivers side caliper be getting hott because the right drum is locking up? Or would the right caliper have locked up from too tight of a drum? (I know poorly greased could have been the issue too)

I stomped on the brakes earlier, the right drum locked up pretty good.. So I'm going to back the adjuster off a bit and see if that helps.

I was also wondering, do wheel cylinders show signs of wear other than leaking? I believe I have 2 different brands of wheel cylinders installed. If worse comes to worse, I could replace both wheel cylinders and calipers. I have 2500 brakes all-around (my trucks a 1500), if I'm not mistaken I can upgrade to 2500HD, or 3500s?

 

I would be real tempted to replace both rear wheel cylinders, simply because they are NOT the same. If one is sized differently, will make braking performance rather strange.

The rears will have zero effect on the fronts, so, if there is a problem in front, the problem itself is in the front as well. Check and see if the caliper is hanging up. Jack up the front, STAND on the brake pedal for a few seconds, let off, then try and turn the front tires. See if a brake is sticking.

 

So... Checked everything out again yesterday. Caliper is not sticking, and all slides are greased and functional..

However, both rotors are scored (especially right side) on the insides. Any idea how this can happen? Almost looked like a bit of grease got onto the right side rotor.. Put a groove in the rotor and pad.

What I did for now was clean up the pads and rotors, and backed off the right rear drum.. Seems to have helped so far, but its looking like new pads, rotors, and why not wheel cylinders. (In the bear future anyways)

My question is, although the rear brakes are totally seperate from the front... Would one really messed up drum potentially screw up a caliper because of excess drag on the front brakes? Or vice versa... Thanks!

 

Nope. The rears cannot affect the fronts. (aside from making the fronts work harder if the rears aren't working.)