D350 Rear Brakes Puzzler.

[tateinca]

Braking power had been fading over time and during high speed stops I had a pulsation in the seat of the pants, not the steering wheel. Pulled the rear wheels and hubs, found the right side adjuster backed all the way out and the lever had ridden up over the star wheel and jammed up in the E-brake cable guide. Shoes were like new. ( I have had the truck almost 2 years and have no idea when they were replaced. ) The "R" adjuster was on the right side and the "L" on the left.



Turned the drums, re-used the shoes, Used new hardware. Made sure the adjusters were working. Adjusted the shoes with a brake caliper. Everything fine for now.



Does anyone have an idea what may have caused the right lever to jump over the wheel? Maybe just that far out of adjustment.



Thanks, Hugh

 

[Philip]

Maybe just that far out of adjustment

I haven't seen one that far out myself. I would be more inclined to think someone tried to manual adjust and was holding the lever and clicked it up there by accident.

 

[CDegner]

Could be any number of things. Judging from the adjuster hardware being on backwards, chances are it just rode up and over. I had the same problem when I first bought my truck. Essentially no back brakes at all. Not knowing squat about truck brakes, I took it to the dealer. Diagnosis, everything was on backwards. Seems to be a common problem with some low end brake shops these days.



As for the pulsation, That is most liekly due to not having any back brakes ... indirectly. Since all you have been using are your front brakes, they have overheated and warped your rotors. If there is still thickness available, they can be turned. Unfortunately, they will likely end up warped again. At least mine did within a couple months.



Carl

 

[LR Smith]

After purchasing my truck used, I decided the braking performance was low. I know from past experience that the self adjusters do not always keep up with the brake shoe wear and have to be periodically adjusted manually. After pulling the drum on the passenger side, I found that the brake shoes were barely touching the drum, if at all. Upon further inspection, I noticed that the self adjuster had been installed backwards (it will fit either way) The adjuster appeared to be actually loosening the adjustment on the shoes instead of tightening them. It had gotten to the point that the arm no longer was contacting the star wheel. After correcting this problem and manually adjusting the shoes, WOW this truck actually does have some brakes after all.



LRS