Just an update on the Ram's brakes... You may recall that
I replaced practically every brake line due to ruptures but
wasn't having much luck bleeding the system, or so I thought.
The pedal was soft and low and the rear brakes didn't seem to
be working very well, if at all. I finally got around to
looking at the rear drums today. Before I pulled anything
apart, with the back end up in the air, I was able to verify
that applying the brakes did not stop the rear wheels from
turning. If I pushed the pedal ALL the way in, they would
stop the wheels from turning in neutral, but not in drive; so
there was basically no brake action happening back there, as
I suspected.
I pulled drums and they have definitely seen better days,
though I didn't actually bother to look up the specs and measure
them. The brake shoes still had material on 'em; I don't recall
how much was on the new shoes, but I would guess they have a little
less than 1/4 left. Probably time to think about changing them,
but they aren't down to the metal yet. ;-)
I was hoping Bernd was onto something with the adjusters
possibly being installed backwards, but unfortunately (well,
probably fortunately) I must have done 'em right the last
time. :-) I did pull them out though just to verify the
left and right stamping inside to make sure they were on
the proper wheel. The left adjuster was all the way in,
although everything seemed to be making contact and working
the way its supposed to. (Though obviously it wasn't or it
would have put the shoes closer to the wheel?) The right
adjuster was partially out, but the lever wasn't making
contact with the star wheel. The adjuster spring cable was
a bit slack, I don't know if the cable slipped a bit at one
of the ends or what, so for now I just used a piece of safety
wire to tie the middle of the cable to a hole in the rear brake
shoe, which brought the lever back into contact with the star wheel.
I put the wheels back on and did a few backwards stops
but didn't see much improvement. I put the back end up in
the air again, and turned the adjusters with a screwdriver
until I could start to hear the shoes rubbing on the drums
and gave it another try. The pedal was much firmer and
the stops were much better as well. I still don't think
its giving it everything its got as the rears didn't lock
up as much as I'd expect with a panic stop, but its a lot
better than it was before. I think it must just be the
combination of worn drums and shoes along with the adjusters
just plain not working for whatever reason. So I guess
I could just keep an eye on it and adjust them by hand for
now. I think a new set of shoes and drums would probably
make a world of difference.
I've got the lifetime warranty Autozone shoes on it so
I can get another set of those for free. Looks like the
dealer wants about $90 per drum, not available at Autzone,
about $65 at NAPA, and $35 for the cheapest ones at Rock
Auto (Raybestos "Professional Grade", $40 for Guardian,
$80 for Raybestos PG Plus, $80 for Wagner, and $100 for
AC Delco). Anybody know anything about those brands or
lines? Unless there's a good reason not to, I'll probably
just get a pair of the cheapies. I wanted to look into
getting the parking brake working again also since it
is completely frozen up. Rock Auto absolutely smokes the
dealer in prices for the various cables, almost 1/3 the
price. Autozone doesn't have any parking brake cable
stuff for this application, so if I get drums at Rock Auto
I'll probably get a complete set of parking brake cables too.
--
-Jon-
.- Jon Steiger -- jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com -.
| '96 Kolb Firefly, '96 Suzuki Intruder, Miscellaneous Mopars |
`-------------------------------- http://www.jonsteiger.com --'
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