Tackling my rear brakes

[svdsinner]

I recently realized that the '01 2500 I bought last fall has absolutely no rear brakes. When the rear tires were on a patch of wet ice, they would spin with my foot on the brakes and just the transmission in gear.

I've done disk brakes dozens of times and am a solid shade-tree mechanic, but have never messed with drums.

1) Are there any specialized drum brake tools I need?
2) Is it reasonable to assume that the pads have just been worn down to nothing and never replaced? Are there any other reasonably common drum brake failures that cause a complete lack of brake force?
3) Anything specific to 2nd gen rear brake drums that I should know?

 

[chrisbh17]

Havent done drums in forever, but:

1. Yes. Drums are basically run on springs and spring tension....the tools involved will safely release the tension and allow you to take the springs off. harbor Freight has a kit that should do the job: https://www.harborfreight.com/drum-brake-spring-pliers-kit-3-pc-63640.html

General info:

Drums usually have a "star adjuster" that you can access through a slot in the drum. You can "push" the shoes outward and inward with the adjuster, to potentially make up for any loss of shoe material over time. Some auto-adjust as well, not sure if the RAM has auto adjusters.

Also note there will be a wheel cylinder behind the drum, thats the hydraulic portion of the drum setup. They should be fairly inexpensive so pick up a set just in case. Also note a lot of times the mounting for them gets rusty, so get under the truck and shoot some Liquid Wrench, Kroil, etc on the back plate where the bolts for the wheel cylinder bolt into. If you see any signs of weeping or leakage, probably best to replace the wheel cylinder while you are in there.

Drums are relatively weak compared to disc brakes, so its possible you can spin the wheels with the brakes applied just because they are weaker. The shoes could also be glazed over, so plenty of material left but no actual stopping power.

 

[svdsinner]

How do I know whether to replace the drums or just the pads?

 

[Dodge 1500 4X4]

1. If the drum brakes are worn, If they are riveted you can see how much you have left by looking at the rivet hole.
2. If they are bonded there is a min thickness of the shoe/w the brake plate, allot of time they are unevenly worn.
3. Also the drums have a min thickness measure inside to inside to get the Diameter and that will tell you what shoe size you need, also check the inside of the drum for scores or being glazed over you can have the drums turned down at a auto parts store or machine shop.

 

[GTyankee]

If the drums have a ridge, sort of like cylinder walls sometimes get, they may need to be turned at a machine shop.
If the shop measures the inner diameter of drum, they can tell you if they can turn the brake drums or if they are too thin to legally turn them on a metal lathe

You can put a Rear brake conversion kit on your truck, if you want to
From drum to disc brakes

 

[Bear_Gibson]

If the drums have a ridge, sort of like cylinder walls sometimes get, they may need to be turned at a machine shop.
If the shop measures the inner diameter of drum, they can tell you if they can turn the brake drums or if they are too thin to legally turn them on a metal lathe

You can put a Rear brake conversion kit on your truck, if you want to
From drum to disc brakes

Some of these trucks had factory rear disk brakes. I'm fairly certain it was available for the 01 2500's. A person might be able to find the parts necessary for a conversion at a salvage yard. Just buy new consumables. ie hoses calipers and pads.

On the drum brakes. The adjusters are finniky and don't always work.

Replace all the internal hardware to be sure. Some hardware is left or right side only, like the adjusters. Take pictures of the brakes before removing any hardware. This is an easy way to make sure it goes back together right.
Make sure the wheel cylinders actually function if not check to see if they're getting brake fluid.

Drum brake tools make the job WAY easier. I had to knock out the holes in my backing plate to access the adjusters. The hardware kits will come with replacement rubber plugs.

There is access to free manuals for these trucks. If you cannot find them. I have the FSM for 98 and 2001 years. They cover everything.

Sent from my E6910 using Tapatalk

 

[svdsinner]

You can put a Rear brake conversion kit on your truck, if you want to
From drum to disc brakes

I did look into this. There are several ways to do it:

1. Replacement kit with normal calipers, lose the parking brake for $4-500-ish
2. Replacement kit with calibers that support the parking brake for $6-800-ish (Yep. >$200 extra)
3. Forgo the kit and buy parts individually. Use a caliper from a late 70's Cadilac El Dorado that supports parking brake but isn't stupid expensive. Depending on the parts you buy, anywhere from $250 (el cheapo parts) to $400ish. This also requires that you replace one of the parking brake cable with a custom length cable a few inches shorter than stock.

Ultimately, I didn't go that route because I didn't feel incredibly comfortable buying all the individual parts online. If If I has a local parts store that stocked the parts and I could've made sure they match before buying (or had easy exchanges) I would probably do option #3, but no local parts stores keep those in stock.

I did decide to upgrade to bigger brake cylinders. I'll be tackling it as soon as the disk brake tools I ordered from HF arrive next week.

 

[svdsinner]

Wow, did not expect that! Since it is a beautiful day, I pulled one wheel and decided to see how hard getting the drums off would be. (On that note, I'm glad I had several feet of steel flat bar in my scrap pile. I made some 8" extensions to the arms of my gear puller, and that worked amazingly well.)

When I looked inside, I was shocked to see that every surface of the inside was covered with what seemed to be axle grease! I was expecting copious amounts of dirt, etc, but not black axle grease.

What do you guys think that was from?

1. Natural causes? (I.E. Previous owner drove the truck through greasy stuff a bunch and it just happened over the years)
2. Grease coming from the wheel somewhere and leaking into the brake?
3. The dude who sold me the truck knew the brakes were bad and added the grease to make them not squeak when I test drove it? (Not sure if that would even work)

I've never seen a giant build-up of axle grease where it doesn't belong like that on anything mechanical I've messed with.

 

[Daw14]

Axle seals are bad. They greased up the brakes .time for new seals and a brake job. Buy plenty of cleaner.