Drum brakes, all new, pulls left hard, hub still gets HOT

[moparedtn]

Back in the day I always had the brake shop "arch" the shoes to match the actual diameter of the drum. That has a major effect on the contact pattern of the shoe to the drum. The quality of parts now is not what it was 50 years ago. If the shoe radius doesn't match the drum radius on one side, you get exactly what you describe.

Did you see the pics?

 

[69L48Z27]

After watching the video I would do a couple things.

- Put more adjustment into the right side
- Alignment? As loose as those are, your pull to the left shouldn’t be brake drag. Assume you were not hitting the brake. Also toe out will aggravate any brake pull.

Did you get the drums cut? When ever I put a car together, I put way more brake drag on the fronts to break them in. When I try to free spin I might get two revolutions out of them. Drive the car, adjust to get rid of any pulling. I think someone else suggested this but have someone apply the brake while the front is in the air and just make sure both are working.

 

[66Satellite47]

Did you see the pics?

Ya, saw the pics, visual look could be deceiving. Also doesn't take much adjustment difference to create a pull. Just say'n.

 

[moparedtn]

Ya, saw the pics, visual look could be deceiving. Also doesn't take much adjustment difference to create a pull. Just say'n.

Well right now, there's zero drag cold on either side (but adjusted to be just on the verge of some).
Again, I'm not as concerned with a pull under braking at the moment as I am that the thing was
managing to generate a pull when the brakes weren't being used.

Starting over now with a different, machined drum and shoes sanded down to fresh unscorched...
If that doesn't at least improve things some, I can pretty much bet on something wonky going on
with the hydraulics.

 

[toolmanmike]

Is it possible one set of shoes were put on wrong? Primary in the rear? I have seen it before.

 

[moparedtn]

Is it possible one set of shoes were put on wrong? Primary in the rear? I have seen it before.

Double and triple and quad-watever checked, sir.
Hell, I even verified hardware/shoe orientation with FSM and other pics!
(I sort of had to since I was converting the car to newer self-adjusters).
Primary in front!

 

[Fran Blacker]

Waiting for your next test drive, Fred sounds good. Hope it stops straighter, that was a nasty pull to the left.

 

[moparedtn]

Waiting for your next test drive, Fred sounds good. Hope it stops straighter, that was a nasty pull to the left.

Thanks you kindly sir - and today was just that test drive.
As such, it was conducted in the same manner as previous recent drives - local, a few miles of highway, a handful
of stops along the way.
First thing that was IMMEDIATELY noticeable was - the pedal was half down now!
Sorta got my attention real quick, coming out of the garage on the side of a ridge and all...
not much brake there for sure.

I took an immediate diversion across the north 40 so that I could perform some quick self-adjusting maneuvers...
and once Fred at least acted passively interested in doing something when I stepped on the brake pedal, we
headed down the ridge, letting the engine keep speed in check.
Once down at the highway, we did a little more of that quick backing up/slam on the brakes stuff and got a
little more out of the effort, so off to town we went.

The initial drive across town to stop #1 is about a 6 mile jaunt on a 55mph highway - the same one that Fred
almost immediately demonstrated the pulling to the left while rolling bit before and had gotten everything so
damn hot the last time.
This time, however - no pulling under braking on the LF at all.
In fact, just a twinge of it to the right, if anything!
When we parked and got out, I grabbed the nosecone of the LF wheel and felt of it.
Nothing at all - if anything, it was actually cool to the touch!
I run around to the RF to compare and - ditto. Nada...
So far, so good.

Later, the trip back straight through town in city stop/go (including divebombing the local cruise-in, which
I had no idea was occurring) led us to the next stop, where all the same gyrations occurred - with the same
results.
I was getting guardedly optimistic at this point - even with the relative lack of brakes.
At least the thing wasn't heating up just rolling down the road!
We left from there some time later and returned to the ridge and the same motions were performed immediately
once stopped in the garage - and again, cool to the touch!

At this point, my efforts of recent past seem to have made a difference, knock wood.
Different drum, sanded shoes, repacked bearings...
We'll take Fred out again this weekend and try to duplicate those results and if so, I'll carefully start sneaking
some adjustment back into the brakes so that the pedal gets better - but not a lot, least at first.

 

[moparedtn]

Test drive #2 today, a few more miles on the highway today than yesterday.
Driving behavior was similar to yesterday (no pulling to the left). Pedal is still down
quite a bit, but that will improve once I adjust things back up some.

Results of the "grab the wheel hub" test once back in the garage was that all four
wheels felt pretty much identically warm (not hot!) from the days' excursion.
I guardedly think I may have "solved" the immediate problem?

Ok, then that would mean it's time to go back and do some adjusting to get a decent
pedal back. I've often read that the REAR brakes "give you the pedal you want".
Should I do those first? Only them?

 

[khryslerkid]

Adjust all four. The master cylinder and distribution block takes care or the rest.

 

[moparedtn]

Adjust all four. The master cylinder and distribution block takes care or the rest.

I was afraid you were gonna say that....

 

[khryslerkid]

I was afraid you were gonna say that....

Well your rear ones will probably be ok but it doesn't hurt to check. Good luck! (for the tenth time)

 

[moparedtn]

Explain your Red "X" disagreement please @retractable ??

 

[retractable]

I am sorry I did not know I had hit the x.

 

[moparedtn]

I am sorry I did not know I had hit the x.

No worries at all, even if you did.
All advice more than welcome here.

 

[MoparLeo]

The thing about the rear giving you the pedal only applies with front disc since there is no adjust on those...
Just ,might think about putting all new fluid in after all this braking testing, heat etc.. to start out clean, moisture free... New bottle of course.

 

[moparedtn]

The thing about the rear giving you the pedal only applies with front disc since there is no adjust on those...
Just ,might think about putting all new fluid in after all this braking testing, heat etc.. to start out clean, moisture free... New bottle of course.

Oh yeah I agree for sure - and with all this manic bleeding I insist on doing, that's pretty much getting
done.
The reservoirs in the master cylinder only gives you about three bleeding "squirts" before you have to refill
it or it goes dry and you gotta start over. Not much reserve there.

 

[wahya]

I've been watching this thread for ideas as I have a similar problem right now. Everything was fine several months ago and car was sitting for a few months. I took it out for a ride and had the issue. I've been busy with other things and haven't had the time to mess with it, but I'll just throw this out there. Years ago, i had a pull to one side while braking. I rotated tires from front to rear and the pull went away.