New brake shoes or not?

[ivbeenrokd]

I pulled both T fittings today and as expected found that the passenger side had a smaller hole than the driver. Replaced the passenger side so they both matched. Test drove, still pulled right. Ordered a pressure gauge set to test line pressures....

 

[gringeltaube]

I just read the whole thread... again! ... hoping to find where you said (did you...???) that the front wheel cylinders have both been checked/ serviced; that you are 100% sure there isn't one of the pistons frozen, sticking in one of the WC's... and such... Really basic things.

Pulling that much to one side means something (basic) is really wrong.
I know one thing though: you are very close to find the answer to this all..


G.

 

[ivbeenrokd]

I haven't serviced the wheel cylinders. I did jack up the front end, spun the tires, hit the brakes, released the brakes, tires would start spinning easy. Brakes were not sticking, at least for that test. The weird thing is that they were fine 6 months ago before the new lines and bob. If I find I have equal pressure with the new gauge I'll buy new wheel cylinders.

 

[welldigger]

So your going to come up with a guage that can read 2000 psi and rig it into each side one at a time instead of just spending $60 on 2 new wheel cylinders?

 

[gringeltaube]

LOL.... Let him do it, so we all can learn... (what not to do!)

 

[ivbeenrokd]

Man, you all are cold! Summit sells a gauge kit for $55.00 shipped and I always look for an excuse to get new tools. Plus, it seems the most logical to follow the things that have changed rather than the things that stayed the same. Maybe in a week you can say I told you so!

 

[welldigger]

Man, you all are cold! Summit sells a gauge kit for $55.00 shipped and I always look for an excuse to get new tools. Plus, it seems the most logical to follow the things that have changed rather than the things that stayed the same. Maybe in a week you can say I told you so!

At the very least it will be cool to see exactly what kind of pressure your brake system generates.

Talking about crazy things happening, I have a little story for you that kinda falls under the same topic. I just replaced the hydromax and master cylinder on my Chevrolet Kodiak. I was only intending to replace the hydromax (not cheap). The truck stopped just fine but the hydromax unit was leaking power steering fluid down the firewall. So I get a new unit and take the master cylinder off then the hydromax. I get the new booster installed and then I reinstall the master cylinder. I crank the truck and bleed the hydromax. I then hit the brake pedal and it goes strait to the floor. WTH? So I then bleed the brakes. ....5 or 6 times. Still nothing. I end up having to get a new master cylinder (also not cheap).

The point of my little story is in an hour the master cylinder went from working just fine to not at all because I took it off the truck. Seriously. So just because you think nothing changed doesn't mean it didn't.

 

[SP5]

I've read this thread twice thru. I had the same issue on an old Suburban, single curcuit, all drum brakes. It turned out that the left front brake hose had a small tear in the interior lining.
If you pushed the pedal slowly, the fluid would flow equally to both front brakes, but if you hit the pedal fast, the little "flap", in the lining would fold over in the hose and block the flow, and the vehicle would pull to the right.

 

[ivbeenrokd]

Okay, I did my pressure testing yesterday and today. I did all measurements with no air in the tanks so the PSI readings are without the air pack in effect. Measuring at the soft lines that go into the wheel cylinders I got 1125 PSI on the driver side and 1075 PSI on the passenger side. This was opposite of what I thought I might get but could easily be attributed to a variation in the pressure applied by my pedal pusher. Measuring from the output of the wheel cylinder on the bleeder valve I got 1400 PSI on both sides evenly. I'm left with the final option of buying a set of wheel cylinders, any additional thoughts before doing so?

Thanks for all the help and advice so far,

John

 

[welldigger]

I just hope new wheel cylinders fix your problem. It's about the only thing left.

 

[silverstate55]

Just found this thread; I have had this problem in my Deuce and a couple of others I've worked on. Most of the time it's the wheel cylinders; I've re-honed all of them, cleaned them thoroughly, and installed new rebuild kits in each one. The majority of the time, this has worked (of course after checking brakes lines and adjustments, etc.. as covered in this thread). The only time it didn't work was on a heavily-rusted axle: I had to remove the upper & lower brake eccentrics, clean all the rust & corrosion off of them, grease them up before reinstalling them, and FINALLY not only would the brakes adjust properly but no more drag either.

 

[Wildchild467]

When I serviced my wheel bearings on my truck, I have a Teflon based spray lubricant that I put on all the break pivot points and such. I hardly used any (careful not to get it all over and on the linings) , but if it helps things move a little smother and adjust easier, etc., why not? I never took my shoes completely off and lubricated the lower eccentric but I have sprayed them with that lubricant a couple times. Often I see brakes rusty and such and it can’t help them work smoothly. When everything is working properly and smoothly it makes for nice, reliable, machine.

 

[ivbeenrokd]

Okay so we put the new wheel cylinders on this morning and went for a test drive. Everything drove well with a very slight right hand pull with hard braking. Overall it's 90% better and really is just fine.

Feel free to add any I told you sos as you wish.

Question: since it was the right side braking harder than the left and neither seemed to be sticking would that likely mean the right o e was fine and the left one was the problem?

Thanks for all the help!

John

 

[welldigger]

No need to rub anything in. Glad you finally got it figured out.

 

[ATPTac]

Okay so we put the new wheel cylinders on this morning and went for a test drive. Everything drove well with a very slight right hand pull with hard braking. Overall it's 90% better and really is just fine.

Feel free to add any I told you sos as you wish.

Question: since it was the right side braking harder than the left and neither seemed to be sticking would that likely mean the right o e was fine and the left one was the problem?

Thanks for all the help!

John

Theoretically yes. Its really hard to say. It could have been that the right side was braking harder than it was supposed to (not likely), or it could have been that the left side was braking less than it should have. Or a combo of both. I'd put my money on the left side being the issue with not applying as much braking force as it should have.