I hate drum brakes!!@!
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Drum brakes strike again! Or maybe it's just the Dakota brakes in general. So I hear a noise in the left rear brake and remove the drum to find that the self adjuster was all out of place. Yeesh. I decide that since it is jacked up and the wheels are off, I will bleed the back brakes because it seems that they just don't grab until the very bottom of the pedal. That's where the fun begins.
Can't get the bleeder open because it is so rusted and disintegrated that it is now permanently part of the wheel cylinder. So I get new wheel cylinders. Of course the brake line crumples when I try to take it off. So Back to the store for brake lines. I then notice the connection on the top part of the rubber line is rotted and looks like it going to blow. Back to the parts store...
After replacing all that mess, I bleed the brakes and the back brakes still don't start to catch until the pedal is near the floor. Where do I go from here? Master cylinder?
Can't get the bleeder open because it is so rusted and disintegrated that it is now permanently part of the wheel cylinder. So I get new wheel cylinders. Of course the brake line crumples when I try to take it off. So Back to the store for brake lines. I then notice the connection on the top part of the rubber line is rotted and looks like it going to blow. Back to the parts store...
After replacing all that mess, I bleed the brakes and the back brakes still don't start to catch until the pedal is near the floor. Where do I go from here? Master cylinder?
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Joined: Mar 2013
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From: Eastside Tucson AZ
Drum brakes strike again! Or maybe it's just the Dakota brakes in general. So I hear a noise in the left rear brake and remove the drum to find that the self adjuster was all out of place. Yeesh. I decide that since it is jacked up and the wheels are off, I will bleed the back brakes because it seems that they just don't grab until the very bottom of the pedal. That's where the fun begins.
Can't get the bleeder open because it is so rusted and disintegrated that it is now permanently part of the wheel cylinder. So I get new wheel cylinders. Of course the brake line crumples when I try to take it off. So Back to the store for brake lines. I then notice the connection on the top part of the rubber line is rotted and looks like it going to blow. Back to the parts store...
After replacing all that mess, I bleed the brakes and the back brakes still don't start to catch until the pedal is near the floor. Where do I go from here? Master cylinder?
Can't get the bleeder open because it is so rusted and disintegrated that it is now permanently part of the wheel cylinder. So I get new wheel cylinders. Of course the brake line crumples when I try to take it off. So Back to the store for brake lines. I then notice the connection on the top part of the rubber line is rotted and looks like it going to blow. Back to the parts store...
After replacing all that mess, I bleed the brakes and the back brakes still don't start to catch until the pedal is near the floor. Where do I go from here? Master cylinder?
Adjust the brake shoes until they just start to bind up the drum. Then back them off just enough so that they don't bind.
Brakes are kinda important, I'm not sure that I would helicoil the caliper bracket--you could take it off and have a machine shop MIG in some metal and then have it drilled & tapped. But if you helicoil and it fails, it does get exciting at 75 mph.
After a lifetime of having cars that I work on, I'm a believer in replacing wheel cylinders when I do the shoes. Wheel cylinders are so cheap as to be a non factor. & having one leak destroys your nice new brake linings.
I don't hate brake drums, I hate corrosion. One of the nice things about living in the desert SW is that we don't seem to have much problem with that.
I grew up in SW Michigan, and remember bumpers falling off from rust. & broken lug studs (every year!) & fasteners that look like they've been welded on and the soaked in salt brine.
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Well, I got them to a state that I'm happy? with. last weekend I adjusted them up til they were rubbing just a little then wrapped the bleeders in Teflon tape and bled the **** out of them with the vacuum bleeder. They are a lot better but there is still some travel before they catch.
I agree on the wheel cylinders. I got a set of Raybestos for like $9 a piece on amazon with free shipping. I feel better that I replaced all the rear brake lines also and now have good clean fluid coming out of the lines.
And yes, being a western PA vehicle it looks as though the under carriage has been in the ocean for 20 years.
This winter has also been brutal. I bought the truck so I would not have to have my charger in the salt this winter. It ends up that that Dakota spent more time my garage that the charger did. 
I agree on the wheel cylinders. I got a set of Raybestos for like $9 a piece on amazon with free shipping. I feel better that I replaced all the rear brake lines also and now have good clean fluid coming out of the lines.
And yes, being a western PA vehicle it looks as though the under carriage has been in the ocean for 20 years.
This winter has also been brutal. I bought the truck so I would not have to have my charger in the salt this winter. It ends up that that Dakota spent more time my garage that the charger did.
