drum brake draging

[James K]

I am having a pull to the right on my truck. I suspected the front caliper to be the source of the problem, so I replaced it(not cheap).

But it still pulls to the right. It only pulls to the right as you are driving but, when you hit the brakes it stops striaght.

Now my thoughts are the right rear drum brake is draging. I checked to see if the rear drums were hot/warm after my test drive around the block and the right rear was warm and the left rear had virtually no heat in it at all.

My question is in a drum brake what could be the source of the drag? wheel cylinder?


other then evrything being coated in dust from the shoes all seems to be in its place and functioning properly.

 

[BlackSheep]

I am having a pull to the right on my truck. I suspected the front caliper to be the source of the problem, so I replaced it(not cheap).

But it still pulls to the right. It only pulls to the right as you are driving but, when you hit the brakes it stops striaght.

Now my thoughts are the right rear drum brake is draging. I checked to see if the rear drums were hot/warm after my test drive around the block and the right rear was warm and the left rear had virtually no heat in it at all.

My question is in a drum brake what could be the source of the drag? wheel cylinder?


other then evrything being coated in dust from the shoes all seems to be in its place and functioning properly.

seems to me if the wheel cylinder is sticking, it would cause a drag. However, you should have been able to feel that if you pulled the drum off and pushed the pistons in a little. What about the adjustment on the e-brake? maybe you have a sticking cable on that side.
Have you done anything that might change your alignment lately? Maybe hit a big pot hole or something?
What about tires? Have you checked your tire pressures? Have they recently been replaced? If not new, how are they wearing? If it is an alignment issue, you should be able to see it in the way the tread is wearing.

Had you done any work to the truck prior to feeling this pull? If so, could that be related?

Don't know how much help I am, but maybe it will help stir the grey matter a bit.

 

[Shawn]

Did you check the air pressure in your tire? Does this happen when driving or braking? When was the last time you greased the bearings? Think outside the box, it might not be just the brakes.

 

[Hickey]

Was either drum adjusted tighter than the other? Was either drum harder to remove?

 

[Tacoma]

in my experience if it's a sticky wheel cylinder it'll be locking up all the time too. I had a van w/the left rear one bad, it would squeal to a stop if I hit the brakes LOL.. kind of fun in the Avenues, scaring all the kids.

I'd check the adjustments based on the fact that the one drum didn't apparently get used much. Wheel cylinders are cheap at any rate, and they probably need replaced regardless if you've had that thing for any length of time.

 

[James K]

I have checked the tire pressure. its not an issue.

it only pulls while driving not during braking.


oh yeah the tires are wearing like ****.

 

[Hickey]

I have checked the tire pressure. its not an issue.

it only pulls while driving not during braking.


oh yeah the tires are wearing like ****.

Have you had it aligned?
When was the last time you changed your diff fluid? Maybe you have a spider gear/side gear problem.

 

[James K]

Have you had it aligned?
When was the last time you changed your diff fluid? Maybe you have a spider gear/side gear problem.

a spider gear problem

 

[Hickey]

a spider gear problem

Maybe one is hanging up or broken or something, and it isn't dividing the power equally to the wheels. That's probably a stretch though. HAVE YOU HAD IT ALIGNED???

 

[James K]

HAVE YOU HAD IT ALIGNED???

NO. tried but they couldn't because of the track bar being bad. and I haven't had time to get back to the shop.

 

[Hickey]

Did it pull before you fixed the track bar?

 

[James K]

Did it pull before you fixed the track bar?

yep

 

[BlackSheep]

I still wouldn't rule out the alignment. If the track bar was bad, it could have created other alignment related issues that stuck around after the track bar replacement.

when you say the tires are wearing like ****, obviously that isn't good, but can you be more descriptive as to exactly how they are wearing? Are the tires feathered from outside to inside (or inside to outside or one side one way the other side the other way)? Do you have localized block depression? Are they simply wearing fast? How many miles on them, and what tires are they and what pressure are you running in them?

 

[James K]

I filled in the blanks

(or inside to outside or one side one way the other side the other way)?yeah they are wearing like this Do you have localized block depression? Are they simply wearing fast? :-\ How many miles on them,10,000 and what tires are theytruxus m/t's and what pressure are you running in them?60 psi

 

[Spork]

If you have some kind of traction device (locker) ignore this...
If you jack the wheel up in the air does it spin easier on one side than the other? If you pull off the drum put back on the tire and spin it does it spin any easier?
Are brakes on the other side working?

 

[BlackSheep]

I filled in the blanks

Originally Posted by BlackSheep/JamesK
(or inside to outside or one side one way the other side the other way)?
yeah they are wearing like this

If one tire wears one way, and the other tire wears the other way, this really does sound like an alignment issue. It means that the one tire is running toed in most of the time, and the other tire is running toed out most of the time. I'm mostly familiar with 18 wheeler alignments, but whoever you take your truck to, make sure they check the rear axle alignment as well. The truck might be slightly doglegging, and it probably does have some toe issues.
Although, with a passenger car/light truck, you may be having some camber issues as well. Can you see any camber in your front tires? If you can see it, I'd bet it is too much.
Regardless, when you take it to an alignment shop, have them give you a before and after printout so you can see what changes they have made.

Originally Posted by BlackSheep/JamesK
How many miles on them, 10,000

Did you notice the pulling before you put the tires on, or did it begin after the tires were installed? If after, give or take how long after?

Originally Posted by BlackSheep/JamesK
and what tires are theytruxus m/t's

oh, that's your problem then..... j/k, I hear that all the time...."Those [insert tire brand here] are what's causing my problems...."


<edit>
localized block depression - this means that intermittenly around the tire, blocks (aka lugs) have worn more than their nieghboring blocks. Usually, this is a sign of poor damping control (shocks), bad bearings, or poor balance of the wheel end - on a light truck it most likely means poor balance of the tire.
</edit>

 

[Caleb]

what year dodge do you have? my old shop had a couple, one 97ish and a 98 and they both had similar problems...we went through similar things, changing tie rods, track bars, calipers, adjusting the drums, even changing control arms...finally one day I was so pissed at it and really started to check things over AGAIN, then I noticed the passenger side front caliper bracket was a tad tweaked...I noticed the from the wear marks when the calipers were off...what it would do is basically wedge the caliper in and not allow it to slide...the reason(s) we never saw it earlier was the rotor was never warped and the the pads were wearing evenly...all we did to fix it was take the grinder to the bracket and carefully took just a little off the sruface to make it so the caliper would slide again...fixed the problem on both trucks. Something to look at...

 

[chevtech]

It's not dragging brakes. Even the slightest drag will take your brakes to the point where they literally smoke in a very short distance. I base this on ten years of experience doing brakes as a mechanic. You have suspension and/or alignment problems, and the slight (very slight) possibility of a brake pull (only when braking) that is opposite of your alignment pull making you go straight when you brake.

Check your suspension components, get it aligned, rotate your tires, and then re-check for a pull when braking.

 

[James K]

its a 2000 ctd.

looks like I wil go try the alignment.


Thanks

 

[onetuff76]

do the 2000 have the reverse reset drums on them? or is their and adjustment spur?
as for the tire wear that's just the tires, a buddy had some on an XJ and they wore fast and $hitty.
you could always do a disk brake swap on it if the alignment theory doesn't pay off