Cane

Alright so before I start, let me preface this by saying if this sounds utterly stupid / obvious to avoid to you, it wasn't for me!

I was in the process of diagnosing what a clunk sound was in the rear of my jeep and when I was about to put the drum cover back on, I wasn't able to do so. What I decided to do is to apply some pressure on the brakes to see if it would move anything. Oh what a big mistake, I heard a pop and brake fluid started pouring out (I'd say about 4-5oz total before I fixed the leak). Since I have no idea what every part is named, I took so pics that I posted below in order to show what happened.

On the first pic, you can see the spring that is bent a little with the metal plate it was around. this was still holding onto the brakes but when I started playing around with it, it just fell off.

In the second pic, you can see where I put the marks, that is where the fluid was pouring from. I was able to put the little seal back in place inside and the metal piece with the rubber around like on the other side (no clue if it's the right way to do so, but at least no more fluid is leaking.

Basically what I'm wondering is if I can temporarily drive like this? The way I see it is I have 3 brakes still working so it should be fine, but of course there may be other stuff involved I'm not aware of. Eventually I will fix all this, but since it's my daily, I kinda need it working.

I was able to put the drum brake cover back on finally, but I figured I'd come looking for advice here before starting the jeep and go for a drive, just in case.

Thanks, and again, bare with me if this is stupid, I didn't really think before pushing the pedal

67 GMC

You can absolutely NOT drive like this. You need all the drum brake hardware back against that wheel cylinder or else the next time you put the brakes on the same thing will happen. Those little plunger pieces have to be pushed back in there and then all the parts back in the right spot.


We've all been tempted to do what you've done but there are usually warnings in most manuals not to press the brake pedal with the drums off.

Cane

Yep, I should've known better. Since I wasn't planning on playing with the brakes at all at first (only check for a play in the axle), I didn't make my research on brakes. Lesson learned.

I checked a bit online, it seem the piece and the spring are used for the parking brake. Do I have to remove the axle shaft in order to put it back in, or it's possible without removing it?

Thanks for the quick reply!

ehall

Everything will go back together like you've got it. Pull the drum off the opposite wheel to see how it goes.

You probably need a new wheel cylinder if that one started gushing

gunmetal_nightrider

That thing is called a wheel cylinder. Your brake fluid feeds directly into the chamber in there creating pressure and moves two stubby rods out. This action presses your drum brake shoes against the drum providing braking power. The brake system runs under a fair amount of pressure. Your brakes will NOT work like stated above. Your broken cylinder will let out any built pressure and none of the brakes will work.

EDIT: I just saw that it wasn't leaking until you hit the brakes. See if it is able to all work again but be careful. Like stated above you may need a new cylinder.

caged

you gotta get that leading brake shoe back in place up against the top shoe guide. (that's the part right above your red circle with the weird shaped washer where the springs clip around). you can see the trailing shoe in place.

and you still have to put the ebrake strut and spring in place.

once you do that, as long as the diaphragm is back on the wheel cylinder, and not leaking, you should be able to get the drum back on and carry on.

Turbo X_J

Get 2 wheel cylinders, brake shoes & a hardware kit, if the drums are out of spec you'll need those too. No reason to go cheap when lives are involved.

Cane

Thanks for the replies, here's my progress so far.

Turbo XJ, noted, but I still want to try and fix it, at least to get it to the shop so a professional can take a look at it.

As for the progress, here it is.

Note that the e-brake cable is loose and that's because I wasn't sure how to properly put it in place, but now I have a pretty good idea so it going to be in place.

One problem now is that the left part probably has pressure from when I pressed on the brakes and the drum cover won't fit (I was able to get it on with force, but it's reallllly tight). Will this fix itself once I bleed the line? Also, anything I should know before bleeding? Never done this before but watched some videos.

The other is, as you can see in the following video, the adjusting thing at the bottom doesn't seem to fit correctly. I think it's because I didn't mount the e-brake as I said earlier, making it loose, but correct me if I'm wrong. (see pic below)



And here, notice the left part of the break higher than the right side.

Turbo X_J

Not my pic (if you are working on the drivers side just reverse)

DFlintstone

On your wheel cylinder that rubber you see is just a dust boot, you can pop it off. Under that is the bore with sort of a piston, then the rubber part that makes the high pressure seal, it looks a little like a beer cap.

I mention that because since that cap was pressed out, it might take a little finesse to fit back into the bore correctly. Brute force is not it. I might loosen the bleeder, (fill the reservoir), fit that back in right ,and it might even gravity bleed.

Cane

Thanks Turbo, I'll print this right now.

Yeah since it popped off a little, making the fluid leak out I could get an idea of what it looked like. The boot with the piston (if that's the piston) popped out a little and the seal inside was in a 45 degree angle. I pressed it back in without force but making sure I couldn't make it go farther and put the rubber boot on. From what you're saying, I'll have to remove the springs and brakes again to access this right? Can I try loosening the bleeder without pressing on it or by pressing on the brake gently with my hands so it forces it in?

NM-XJ

You said you lost 4-5oz of fluid. Should be obvious but...after following all of the good advice above, bleed your entire brake system! Thoroughly!

Also, I'd x2 Turbo X_J's recommendation for at least new shoes and hardware kits. When I do shoes, I prefer to just get new drums, too. They're cheap: $20-$30 so why not.

gunmetal_nightrider

Even with everything on properly the entire setup has movement. Once the E-break line is connected and the adjuster wheel is in there, crank the adjuster wheel as small as it can go. The drum should mount on just fine. After that spin the tire and u open the adjuster wheel back up the tire should only rotate ONCE when you give it a hard turn. This is without using anybrakes. Repeat on other side. Test e brake if you can have someone throw the wheel or pull the e brake when you throw the wheel, see if they stop.

Bleeing- start with wheel furthest from master cylinder. Press pedal all the way down three times, do another press and HOLD. I used a breaker bar between the pedal and the seat to keep it held. Go to the brake and open up the bleeder valve it will be right above the brake line on the drums, an inch or so above line on the front calipers.

Attach a hose (buy the dang kit for 20 bones it has a nifty tool for the drum springs) the kit has a little bottle and hose stuffs. Attach hose to hole in bleeder valve and open it up. Air/fluid will exit into the bottle. Close valve.

Repeat brake bumps and hold/ draining until straight fluid exits. Not little "carbonated" bubbles, straight fluid. Keep an eye on the brake fluid resevoir (master cylinder) and put more in when needed (you will need fluid).

Cane

Around here I only have Napa and Carquest, and both are closed on sundays. And this happened around 2 today, after they both closed at noon. So my options are 1- get it towed to a shop and rent a car monday for work, all of this costing much $$, 2- Don't go at all to work monday and get all these parts, again $$ or 3- try to fix this temporarily, while staying safe of course, and go at napa on monday night to get the parts and replace everything.

I'm all for safety, but I don't have many options. If the jeep doesn't brake after I'm done doing this, I won't use it. But if I can drive around the school parking lot next door and braking is fine and not leaking, I will go with that (temporarily)

Cane

Thanks for the details, I've seen the bottle trick for when you're alone, so I'll use that. My only concern is, I'm not sure what type of brake fluid was used by my mechanic when he worked on the brakes about a year ago. I read online it's mainly DOT3 and DOT4, but you can't mix. So would I be safe if I extract most of the fluid inside the master cylinder, put in DOT3, then do the bleeding?