New rear brakes a little tight???

[bassman]

I just installed a new set of rear pads and drums and now my brakes are sticking a little bit..
the e brake is loose so thats not the problem and the all the parts inside the drum are working freely so I am thinking to just drive it for a day and see if it loosens up.

when it is up on jacks you can turn the wheel but it does not spin freely like it did with the worn pads.

shayne

[elcamino1]

Did you preload the bearings to tight?

[elcamino1]

What brand of brake shoes did you use?

[Icedawg]

I had the same problem. Napa drums, and Part Source pads if I recall. More preload on the bearing only makes it worse. I ended up setting the shoes as loose as I could and just running them. After a while they were OK.

I hate drum brakes, over the years I have never been good at setting them right. Loose enough they don't drag and the pedal is way too soft. Good pedal and they drag. Somewhere in mechanics school they must teach how much drag is enough. Those of us learning from the Haynes book don't get the feel for how much drag is right.

If the wheels spin reasonably, then I would call it good. When I had a mechanic check the drag I thought was too much, he said it was not quite enough. So you are probably OK unless the wheel is truly bound up.

[jglutz]

when it is up on jacks you can turn the wheel but it does not spin freely like it did with the worn pads.

shayne

Nice piece of information...This is a good thing...the question is are the bearings to tight or is it the breaks that are causing the tightness. Best to do....from behind the drum...pop out the inspection boot and back off on the adjuster to see if it frees up the wheel and go fromthere.

[bassman]

they are tight without the nut even on yet..
I am planning on a day on the road and then I will inspect bearing tightness .
but I know that they are not tight as I only finger tighten them then install the cotter pin and holder.

[jasonpaulbauer]

I am having a similar problem... Im rebuilding the rear brakes on the Aspire rear axle before I swap it. I have new shoes, hardware and wheel cylinders.... Looks like the new wheel cylinders are wider than stock... But I know I have the right part number.... so I dont know what is wrong. One side I can get together with some drag. The other side it is too tight to turn when I put the drum on......

Im not quite sure what my solution will be..... just driving it will not be an option with as tight as the one side is.

[m715]

Old school on drum brakes were to radius the new shoes to the drums on a fixture that is now long gone. As the drums were cut on a lathe to resurface them, you had to match the size/radius of the shoes to match. Using this information, however, check the radius of shoe vs drum before installing.This will tell you if your combination of parts will work or not. Be glad that this isn't on the front. Talk about adjustment/grabbing issues!

[bassman]

today I removed and adjusted the thing that has the gears on it by a couple of clicks and they now spin free.
I did try that the first time around but I think they needed a little time to break in.
greased up the bearings and installed NEW cotter pins .
good for a few more years

[scitzz]

I would bet that the greasing of the bearings helped, although, when I do new rears, I always replace the bearings while I am at it.
That little thing with the gears? That is the self adjuster. When you do the rears, you should spin it until it is all the way in. When you go in reverse, it adjusts the shoes to the proper drag. Spin it all the way in, then just reverse for about 100 yards, and BINGO!

Really, though, you should adjust it until the shoes are near tight, that is what jglutz was referencing above..... you can adjust it without taking everything apart...

[jglutz]

On any drum...with the car lifted...I adjust the brakes so I can spin the wheel easily by hand but the wheel will not spin freely...just one of those things you know or have to get a feel for.