Ok Hive Mind,
I am need of some additional information and I am hoping you can help. I have owned my XJ for about a year and in the quest of tracking down an errant noise I have determined one of the biggest culprits is that the rear brakes are dragging and not releasing completely, and are very loud, squeaky etc and can hear a rubbing vibration when going at very low speeds. Here is the list of the current specs of my XJ and the current list of things done and or replaced.

1998 XJ 4.0 roughly around 180,000 mi, has D44 rear end from an 86 Cherokee, no ABS, and 2-3 in lift, with 31x10.5.r15 tires.

replaced - front wheel bearing hubs
front calipers, and pads
rear drums,
rear shoes,
rear brake hardware,
rear brake wheel cylinders,
rear drums

I have had the brakes bled and adjusted by trusted professionals to help eliminate user error.

I have not done anything to the master cylinder, proportioning valve or any other part of the brake system.

Anyone have any input? Thanks for your help gang!

Jason

My guess is that the star adjuster is too far out. To check, remove the wheel & try to spin the drum. The transmission needs to be in N & the wheels blocked. It should have a little resistance but you should be able to spin it. If not, adjust the shoes in.

Just because a professional performed the work doesn't mean that they did it right.

Also forgot to add, there is a lock rite locker in the rear end as well.

As for the adjustment, I will check again but they have been checked, and rechecked. Also the shop I take it to specializes in Cherokee XJ's and are some pretty solid guys.

E-Cables replaced too? Often overlooked. They become stretched out and push the shoes against the drums

"rubbing vibration"

Drums smokin hot, tires ready to blow off the rim? if not I'd look at axle/carrier bearings.

Have ever had the drums turned? I had a problem with dragging brakes a few years ago, every thing in the brake system was new and I chased the problem for a few weeks and the fix was having the drums turned. The brand new drums where not round!

Turbo - Had the axle bearing and all seals replaced in the quest to find "the noise"

Droopy - Not as of yet but the drums that I have on there are brand new less then 5000 miles, the issue was there before the new drums and after, could it still be an issue?

Sorry wrong thread

Carrier bearings too?
Is the gear oil up to level?
Does it make noise with the vehicle in the air and the rear tires rotating?
If the brakes are dragging there is going to be a lot of heat generated which will eventually make it's way to the wheels.

Parking brake cable rusted and binding, disconnect and see if it cures it. Thats usually always it.

The ideas about the e brake cables are interesting, I have not thought of that. I wasn't home enough this weekend to look into it, I will give it a shot this coning up weekend. I will keep you all up to speed on how it goes.

So, I know it has been a while, got busy with all the things. I finally got to disconnecting the e brake cables, and....the sound went away. Gone, nothing. and as far as i can tell everything is working as it should other then the fact now they squeek and whine when I am pressing them lightly in traffic and such. Going to get the rear drum turned and skuff of the shoes lighting and see how that works, then I will look at getting new cable for the ebrake. Thanks for all the input guys, I would have never thought of that as a solution.

Glad you figured it out, thanks for letting us know.

One more thought for those who may have a similar problem. As old as the MJs and early XJs are, you may find wear groves in raised pads of the back plate where the edges of the shoes rest against the back plate. I had to fill mine in with a MIG welder, and re-grind them flat again.

Upgrade them to discs, the only thing you'll be sorry about is that you didn't do it sooner.