JwL89XJ

This always happens after I drive distances on highways: It seems as I slow down after getting off my exit there's a grind and hitch in the rear left area. I have problems with the adjusters in that rear brake drum and have tried to solve it by hand turning to no avail. Today I bought the small parts and adjusters kit and tomorrow i will replace everything.

A brand new thing yesterday was the big-time rattle and vibration as I was driving from The Avengers (great movie btw). Hasn't happened before and didn't happen on the way to the movie only on the way back.

Drove it around this morning to get it going and it definitely has a hitch and grind in the rear passenger side which my gfather is leaning towards u-joint but we'll see after the drum is rebuilt.

We had it jacked up (both sides up) and Driver side rear spun only in drive. Jacked it up again with passenger rear up only, put it in drive and as i let my foot off the brake the wheel wouldn't turn even when we kicked it so I know that parts bad. Same thing happened the first time we played with it. I checked the shocks, stabilizer bar, shackles, u bolts, and leaf springs and nothing's broken.

Any thoughts?

JwL89XJ

welp, bought a small parts and adjuster replacement kit, new shoes and put her on the lift today. After getting the drum off it was a mess of brake dust with chipped and badly worn pads. The parking brake cable and spring was so tight I could not move it and had to get a vice grips to pry it far enough to get the lever off initially (which was a sign I didn't recognizeat the time). Blew it out, doused with brake cleaner and went over everything with wire brush. Got the new stuff together and on the back plate and had the hardest time getting the e-brake lever to open which was widening the bottom of the shoes about 1/4", just enough for me to not fit the drum head on.

After some fishing around found that my left rear parking brake cable is completely seized and in effect always engaged. Took the main parking brake aduster cable completely off and while the right one was easily tugged back and forth by hand lefty didn't budge with a vice grips. Ordered another from AZ and should be here tomorrow. Hopefully this finally solved my ongoing brake problems and hopefully the rattle and vibes I was getting.

DirtyKK

thank you for coming back and informing us on your fixes. often times people dont do it and then the next guy is just as clueless. hopefully you get it fixed. i bet you gain some power and mpg without the brake sticking haha

jatoxico

Always good to find something clear when you're having a prob. I just went over my e-brake, sprayed it up w/ WD and adjusted it. Cables were a bit stretched.
Hope you found your problem.

Firestorm500

Me, too. But please never "blow out" the brake dust. It is very hazardous to your and any bystander's health.

JwL89XJ

thx guys. Ya jatoxico I thought about just hitting it with WD but the ppl I bought it from told me the last few years they had it all they used it for was vacations and towing...a boat. Having that in mind and after prying one of the cylinder pegs off of the shoe that was rusted and coated with garbage (had to grind stuff off of it) I decided for the money ($10) it was worth just getting a new one.

JwL89XJ

was wearing a mask and outdoors (lift is outdoors in the open) but for next time noted and thank you.

jatoxico

Sounds like your was a goner! My brake operated pretty freely just too high before it engaged. The adjuster bolts were a little rusty so I shot them up, so far so good.

JwL89XJ

oh ya it was done, couldn't budge it. Even as I was loosening the equalizer locknut you could see it was favoring the good side and still taught on the bad side; the equalizer was...well...unequal.

JwL89XJ

That rusted cable certainly was the root cause. After fumbling around in the rain with the p-brake prong thing that keeps the cable inside the drum(kept sliding back on me ) and finding out that my adjuster parts were sent with the wrong sized self adjuster cable (about an inch too long) everything works fine now. No more skidding in the rain or anywhere else in general. Knock on...meh it's a jeep.

Jonwebb

Can you go into a little more detail about the vibrations you were having? Like what speed you where going? Its sounding like i might have the same problem

JwL89XJ

Going about 55-65mph the back end started to shudder up and down like it was a bumpy road but at a faster rate. Also when I was slowly making my way around the parking lot there was a grinding noise and a slower bump or hitch on the back right tire like i was driving over something. At normal speeds (30-45) there was no problem but the tire locked up when i had to make a fast stop or it was wet out.

The two ways I zeroed in on the cable was how tight it was inside the drum compared to the other side and when I loosened the equalizer nut there was no movement from the right side while the left was slack. After I removed the equalizer I tried to tug on the cable and it was stuck fast. It also makes it hard to get the drum off.

Jonwebb

The vibrations sounds like exactley what i have except for the grinding in parking lots and my rear end does lock up when its wer or a sudden stop and i recently complelty rebuilt by rear brakes everything except the wheel cylinder. So i guess ill be popping off my drums tommorow. Thanks for info and I'm really hoping this will solve my problem