10" Brake question

Here's the next surprise the jeep has thrown at me...

I've rebuilt the steering knuckles and upgraded to the 10" brakes. It has been pulling to the right somewhat under heavy braking since the upgrade, until yesterday. It now pulls SEVERELY to the left when braking.

Why would it switch sides and what do I need to do to fix it?

 

You could have an air bubble floating around in a brake line somewhere. Try bleeding them again.

 

I will re-bleed them this week. If that doesn't fix it, It's going to a brake shop. I am starting to believe this is nothing more than a money pit.

 

Hang in there Dennis. It is a money pit.........It is a Jeep thing also......Bleeding the brakes again might do it...Good luck.

 

Problem is:

I have an investment in the 10". It had to be better than the 9's, right? Well they do stop better, you just dont know whether you'll end up in the ditch or in oncoming traffic

I prolly should just look for the donor vehicle, but jeep funds are exhausted for a while. Did I mention that Dan needs braces?

I am going to stop now before this turns into a rant about life...

 

No advice Dennis frustrating BTDT hang on it'll get better or something else will happen to distract you and this'll seem minor

 

master and wheel cylinders are different w/10" brakes.

 

What do you mean? I have the complete 10" set up I bought from one of the members here. It isn't compatible with my original m/c?

 

Pulling can a lot of times be because the shoes are not properly adjusted to the drums. There is a large caliper measuring thingie that machanics use to measure the inside of the drum, then they transfer that measurement to the shoes and adjust accordingly. This way the shoes on each side (driver and pass) both run at the same "clearance" between the shoe and drum.
This can be backyard mechanic'ed by turning the star wheel with the drum off a turn at a time and trying to install the drum until you reach a point where it will not fit. Then back off until it will JUST slip on and turn without rubbing the shoes. Do both sides.

I turned the star wheel on my driver front one time when rotating the tires, just to make sure it was not seized. It was only a couple teeth of the star wheel. Next time I got on the brakes hard, it pulled hard!! They were working fine before and I immediately realized what I had done. Readjusted and all was well.

With disc brakes this kind of adjusted between pad and rotor automaticaly occurs everytime you apply the brakes. No wonder discs are so popular.

I think some 10" setups require manual adjustment--if so, get a FSM and carefully follow the procedure. I'll bet a search will reveal it has been discussed here before.

I personally run 11" drums. If I was doing a lot of deep water and/or mud I would go discs all around...it is worth it.

Drums/shoes that are oil or brake fluid soaked will do the same thing. Maybe you have a leaky wheel cylinder or grease seal? Pull the wheels and drums for a quick look.

 

hey lynn, those 11" drilled drums you mentioned. are they drilled to let out water through to the outside of the drum? was there a site about this idea ? i'm going to upgrade to 11" drums . you sound like you like them? do they wear down the drums or shoes unevenly?

 

i did a search. drilled drums. i'm going to try it.

 

WELL,
I drilled my 10" drums, after having them turned and put new shoes on -
I'm getting the pulling thing too. I'll try re-adjusting them and bleeding the lines....
I never liked drums in the front and now I remember why - grrrrrrrrrrrr.....

 

Manual drum brakes, in good condition and properly adjusted, can work well. I would check for 1) improperly assembled self-adjusters, 2) improper initial adjustment, 3) brake fluid or grease on the shoes, 4) installing the lead shoe on the rear on one side, 5) excessively worn backing plates, 6) incomplete fluid bleeding, 7) obstruction in the brake lines.

 

Ths weekend I will Bleed them and readjust them. I will give a full report when complete. If that does not solve the problem, I will park it until I can afford disc brakes. Damn thing almost killed me...

 

Dennis, if these are self adjusters, you need to 'initialize" them, especially if you don't have the caliper tool Greg refers to.

Get the adjustment as close to the same on all four corners as you can, but the wheels must spin freely. When the Jeep is back on the ground, drive backwards at about 5-10 mph and jam on the brakes, hard. This will activate the self-adjusters. Repeat this, say, 6-10 times. By this time all the slack will have been taken up in the adjusters, and all wheels will be equally adjusted.

Note that this will not work if you have badly worn backing plates, or if the shoes or adjusters are installed wrong.

hth

 

Thanks Tim. The backing plates are perfect and the shoes are on correctly. Just frustrated I guess...

 

I did not drive it much prior to going through the brakes - I just bought it. (so I'm not sure about improvements)
I went through the whole brake system, replacing rear drums and shoes. Then I had the front drums turned and then I drilled them after reading posts here. I drilled 12 equal distant holes around the drum similar to how you did yours. With the 10's I didn't want to go too crazy drilling them. I have not gone off-road yet, I'm still trying to work other bugs out. (so I don't know about mud/water crossings yet) The Ross steering is probably next to go - I've got all of the other leaks fixed. (engine/trans/transfer case)

I might have a good deal coming up on a D30 with the disks, and/or I already have the hardware (except rotors) to do the Chevy parts disk swap on the 27A, so IF I can't get the pulling fixed...I have a few options.