Rear drum brake question

[GregBelleville]

I've recently noticed a dragging sound that sounds like it is coming from my driver side rear brakes. I can hear it when I'm coasting at lower speeds where tire and engine noise didn't drown it out. When I hit the brakes the noise goes away.

Today I pulled the drum off and the only thing that looked off to me is that the parking brake pawl isn't in contact with the adjuster wheel. Not sure that this would cause the noise I'm hearing. Is there a way to adjust this properly?

 

[Hopper]

Did you sand and clean the drum while you had it off? Not sure what your hearing but mine will get a light rubbing sound if I hadn't cleaned them in a while.

 

[dbbd1]

Looks like your pawl may have been rubbing on the inside of the drum.

Give that cable a twist or two to take up some slack.

 

[Hopper]

I've recently noticed a dragging sound that sounds like it is coming from my driver side rear brakes. I can hear it when I'm coasting at lower speeds where tire and engine noise didn't drown it out. When I hit the brakes the noise goes away.

Today I pulled the drum off and the only thing that looked off to me is that the parking brake pawl isn't in contact with the adjuster wheel. Not sure that this would cause the noise I'm hearing. Is there a way to adjust this properly?

View attachment 663216

View attachment 663217

Maybe you have that pawl spring bracket on backwards? Hard to see. Here is a proper picture of the orientation of that part circled in red.

 

[GregBelleville]

Maybe you have that pawl spring bracket on backwards? Hard to see. Here is a proper picture of the orientation of that part circled in red.


View attachment 663245

It appears that the contraption holding the spring is not oriented in front of the pawl like in your picture. I'll need to correct that in addition to removing the slack in the cable.

 

[CMBD]

That thing you are looking at is the self adjuster. Nothing to do with the parking brake.

Parking pawl is an automatic trans thing.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/doing-rear-drum-brakes-a-must-read.1987/

 

[GregBelleville]

That thing you are looking at is the self adjuster. Nothing to do with the parking brake.

Parking pawl is an automatic trans thing.

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/doing-rear-drum-brakes-a-must-read.1987/

Thanks for correcting me, I'm not very familiar with drum brakes

 

[jonny jeep]

It's possible the lip on the rear of the cable guide isn't seated properly in the hole in the shoe. That can cause slack in the cable. The guide should be seated completely flat against the shoe if it's fitted correctly.

 

[GregBelleville]

It's possible the lip on the rear of the cable guide isn't seated properly in the hole in the shoe. That can cause slack in the cable. The guide should be seated completely flat against the shoe if it's fitted correctly.

Ok so I spent some more time this morning on my driver side rear brakes. The cable guide is not staying in the retaining hole when I try to pull the retaining spring up and over the knob it sits on. Any ideas on why this is a problem?

No issues on the passenger side.

 

[KennethS]

I would just lever it back into the hole after the spring is installed.

edit: How are you installing the spring? There are specialized drum brake tools that make the job much easier.

 

[GregBelleville]

I would just lever it back into the hole after the spring is installed.

edit: How are you installing the spring? There are specialized drum brake tools that make the job much easier.

Ok, so ended up doing exactly what you recommended and I installed the guide and the retaining spring first, rather than trying to install the cable, the cable guide and the retaining spring all together. Once I did that the guide remained firmly in place. Buuutttt, my problem remained that the bracket was still not making contact with the star wheel. After several trips back and forth to compare driver vs passenger side I noticed that this tension spring on the bracket wasn't sitting the same.

I pulled it off and compared it to a new one and I either tweaked it when I originally installed it or it was crap out of the box because the springs didn't sit quite the same next to one another.

Installed the new retainer spring and everything looks as it should now.

 

[GregBelleville]

Did you sand and clean the drum while you had it off? Not sure what your hearing but mine will get a light rubbing sound if I hadn't cleaned them in a while.

I overlooked this question and the answer is no, I simply sprayed it down with brake clean, but I didn't sand anything. Even though I was able to get the cable and guide properly adjusted the rubbing sound persists. I'm new to drum brakes and maintaining them.

Any tips on sanding the drums? I'd like to try to rule this out as the source of this rubbing sound.

 

[Hopper]

I overlooked this question and the answer is no, I simply sprayed it down with brake clean, but I didn't sand anything. Even though I was able to get the cable and guide properly adjusted the rubbing sound persists. I'm new to drum brakes and maintaining them.

Any tips on sanding the drums? I'd like to try to rule this out as the source of this rubbing sound.

I spray mine with cleaner then sand with 220 sand paper. Then hit it one more time with brake cleaner. I quik sand the pads while the drums are off also. I park on gravel and have to sand and clean every fcouple months when we get alot of rain. Im no expert on drums either. Everything I've learned was from this forum. Mine were all jacked up when I bought my TJ.

 

[GregBelleville]

I spray mine with cleaner then sand with 220 sand paper. Then hit it one more time with brake cleaner. I quik sand the pads while the drums are off also. I park on gravel and have to sand and clean every fcouple months when we get alot of rain. Im no expert on drums either. Everything I've learned was from this forum. Mine were all jacked up when I bought my TJ.

I'll give that a shot, thanks.

 

[Hopper]

I overlooked this question and the answer is no, I simply sprayed it down with brake clean, but I didn't sand anything. Even though I was able to get the cable and guide properly adjusted the rubbing sound persists. I'm new to drum brakes and maintaining them.

Any tips on sanding the drums? I'd like to try to rule this out as the source of this rubbing sound.

Sure you've done it but mine were adjusted to tight. Move the adjuster till it rubs slightly when you turn the drum, then back off a bit till it spins free. Good luck Buddy.

 

[alittleoff]

I was taught by my Dad while working on VW's as a kid, that I tighten the adjusters so tight that the drum could not rotate (simulating a lockup skid) and back it off a bit so the drum rotates freely but that a very slight rub is ok.

He had a piece of 1" square bar about 3' long and wrapped some black tape on one end to protect the lug bolt threads and I used it to turn the drum until it was tight enough to back off the adjuster. It came in handy while working on my old FJ-40, and I still currently have that 'tool'.