Hey fellas,

My '91 XJ just suddenly decided to sprout an issue, and at the worst of financial times.

Today, I discovered my rear right drum brake is sticking. When I start up and go to take off, you can feel the engine fighting the load of the brake. And then while driving, it vibrates/shakes as though it catches then releases, catches then releases. When I park, you can smell that brake burn smell where it is constantly rubbing. Btw, axle is a Dana Turdy5, non abs.

About a year ago, I replaced all rear hardware. New drums, shoes, and springs. After install and adjustment, all worked well, no issues. No, this issue suddenly arises.

I will be pulling the right wheel off tomorrow and taking off the drum to inspect. I just wanted ya'lls opinions to see if anyone might know what to look for.

Thanks!

 

Sounds like the either one of the main springs up top broke, or your adjuster is busted

 

^this. I was going to suggest loosening the adjusters a bit and let them self adjust. It almost sounds like you've got the shoes too tight on the drum. There's only a few things to actually adjust. While you have it apart, grease the backing plate where the shoes slide to make sure they're not binding up and sticking "on".

My only other thought is the brake cylinder is sticking.

 

You didn't mention that you had rebuilt or replaced the rear brake cylinders yet.

It came back around to bite you now.

 

I know I should have replaced the rear cylinders, but I just didn't have the money after forking out over $100 for the rest of the hardware at the time. However, hopefully that won't be the issue here. If it is, how does one test for a bad cylinder? Is it a self-evident thing such as the shoes can't be pushed back into place?

If the cylinder is bad, will it be ok to just replace the one cylinder until I get enough for the second on the left side drum?

 

Could be mud lodged in there if you've been wheeling. Could just be that something came unseated and needs an adjustment... Hopefully nothing has broke, but at least this is still a cheap process. Idk what your financial situation is, but even new parts for drums is about as cheap as you can go...

 

Look underneath and make sure all the lines, including the E-Brake cables are properly secured.

Though this might not be your problems one of my trucks developed a similar problem.

Turns out one of the E-Brak line supports broke allowing the E-Brak cable to droop down, this 'applied' the brake just a bit but when driving if that cable vibrated after hitting a bump I got a serious " brake on = brake off " scenario.

Sometimes we overlook the simple things!

 

The little pistons inside the cylinder may be hanging in the bore on retraction due to age/corrosion.

Back a long time ago, I would buy a rebuild kit which included the rubber parts. I would take the cylinders apart and lightly dress the bores and pistons up with crocus cloth. I would clean everything with brake cleaner, use the supplied lube on the parts, and put them back together. Never had a failure.

But if the corrosion is real bad with pitting, all the clean up in the world probably won't help.

If only one side is hanging, you could just replace the one for now. Remember, you have to bleed all 4 brakes every time you open the system. Get about 3 pints of DOT3 fluid.

 

I think you may have a leaking axle seal, gear oil on the shoes will cause them to stick and that would also explain the smell. The bad part is usually when the axle seal leaks it's a sign of a bad bearing. The worse part is the bad bearing will wear a groove into the axle shaft. If there is a groove worn into the shaft you need to replace it. Sorry.

 

If this were the case, wouldn't I have some slight leaking on the ground? Also, I imagine when I pull the drum the gear fluid will be evident, right? Also, if the bearing was bad, wouldn't I have heard it and felt it gradually increase?

Didn't get around to pulling it today. Weather was rough and I was sick. I hope this isn't serious, and is just a broken/loose spring. Or hell, I'll even take a bad brake cylinder over a bad axle seal/bearing/axle.

All the more reason to swap to a Chrysler 8.25 when I can. When I get one, before I install it I will replace the seal and bearing, upgrade axle shafts (maybe), AND swap to disc brakes. Then, Im gonna take the junk D35 and melt it down and cast a toilet from the scrap metal.

 

I just went through an issue on my 89, when I would hit the brakes (especially when it's wet out or even after a car wash) my right rear would lock up and i'd make this huge skidding sound even at minimal speeds. Well today I jacked it up (was still locked up) took off the drum and with some help started poking around. Everything looked good till I played with the parking brake. The parking brake was seemingly fully engaged at all times, making it so that the lightest tap on the brake would lock it up. At the bottom center is the parking brake adjuster (I'm still learning so bear with me if I'm not using the correct tech talk). I took a flathead screwdriver and self adjusted it by using the screwdriver to turn the star wheel so that the shoes came together some. The thread on mine was a lefthanded thread so I had to use a bent screw driver to turn the star wheel towards me to tighten and it also helps to hold the arm off the star wheel's teeth. You can tell ur turning it the wrong way if you can't put the drum cover back on. Simple and easy and maybe it will solve some things for you.

 

remove the drum and apply some anti seize where the shoes slide back and forth on the backing plates

 

I will be sure to try/test everything that everyone has mentioned.

I just wanna real quick thank you all for the feedback that's been given. I sincrely appreciate it, and ya'll have no idea how much help on this forum has helped me out since I've owned this XJ. Hopefully it will be something simple. I'll be sure to post my findings tomorrow.

Thanks again everyone.