Good Afternoon Fellas,
New to the Forum so be easy on me...
My rear brakes have been locking up on me as the Jeep comes to a complete stop and have been "sticking" as I start to accelerate from a stop. I just recently replaced my rear shoes, springs, and wheel cylinders on my rear drum brakes. I did not replace the drums but they looked and felt fine. I did bleed the lines after replacing the cylinders. I have researched other threads and have noted issues with parking brake lines and brake fluid lines.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. My 01 Jeep is in great shape and I hate when the brakes are acting up on me...

 

Who did the brake job?

 

Sounds like a leaking wheel cylinder or leaking grease seal on the axle tube causing contamination of the brake pad material.


Pull the drum off and have a look-see.

Had the same problem on my XJ and it was a new wheel cylinder leaking a bit. Just replaced it last night again. Gotta find someone to help me bleed the brakes though.

 

Try adjusting the rear brakes. Sometimes out of adjust can cause them to grab. Considering you just replaced everything.

 

I did the brake job.
I replaced the wheel cylinder and am pretty sure it is not leaking. I will double check though... I am also going to make sure the shoes and drum have not glazed over. I will adjust the brakes again as well.
I actually have quit using my emergency brake to determine if it is the cause of the problem. So far the problem has gone away so I am thinking I may need to look at the emergency brake lines to see if they need to be cleaned/ replaced.
Any additional thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks for your help guys!

 

Does it only do it when you are goin slow?

 

Oh my gosh... This happens to me too! It is so embarrassing! I was coming down our street the other day when it was wet out and I was slowing down to let an old lady cross the street in front of me. Then... SCREEEEEAAACH my back tire locked up and I about gave the ol' lady a heart attack! She went scrambling to the other side and gave me a dirty look. It happens to me a lot but only seems to be when it's damp/wet out and right after I back out of a parking spot. My coworkers tell me that it is a worn brake drum and a sticky auto adjuster.

 

The same thing happened to me today. The rear brakes were locking up very easily on pavement when applying about half pedal. I took the drums off and inspected the shoes which were worn, but not too bad. I decided to replace them anyway as they had to be the root of my problem and it was only $20 for the shoes. I was thinking that the grabbing was from a leaky wheel cylinder, but at first glance it didn't look like it was really that bad. I took the shoes off so I could get to the cylinder, and peeled back the rubber boots on each end and sure enough, there was fluid in there. Any fluid evident under this boot requires a new cylinder. I only inspected one as the other one was getting changed as I like to do them in pairs. With the new shoes and wheel cylinders in place I put new fluid in and bled the whole system. I will note that I didn't take the drums down and have them turned as they looked really good. I took it for a drive and it was perfect. Firm pedal, and no grabbing or sound. I had to buy new shoes ($20), new wheel cylinders at $9 a piece, brake fluid, rags, and an off road magazine (OK I didn't need that, but it looked good at the time). Pretty cheap fix to have brakes that work and not having to stress over what is wrong with my rig!

 

Probably something wrong with your wheel cylinder.

 

Just got done fixing this problem on mine today. Leaking wheel cylinder. Brake shoes soaked with brake fluid. Every time Id stop, the wheel would lock up. New brake cylinders, shoes a little time, and some fussing ( I have a hard time with drum brakes for some reason) and all is well!