Tundra Brake Fit Issue - resolved

[Bad Luck]

Yeah I bedded and bled properly. Don’t think it’s the fronts, though. Maybe it was the rears this whole time. I installed new drums/shoes/cylinder/hardware along with the wheel bearings and axle seals last year. Everything was fine for about 5k miles. I can increase the pulsing with the ebrake so it’s not the front.

Left drum is 350F after minimal braking. Right drum is 145F, so somethings going on. Bell cranks are free. I took it to the shop who turned the drums and they backed off the adjusters and said it was fine, no charge. It was fine for about 5 minutes, then it came back. It seems to only pulse when the brakes are warm. The first few minutes of driving are normal. Now I’m worried the heat has roasted the wheel bearing on that side - that job was a pita.

Your wheel bearing is probably fine. If you can try swapping the drums side to side and seeing if the high temps follow the drum. Is there any fluid/gear oil on the shoes?

 

[cas5259]

Your wheel bearing is probably fine. If you can try swapping the drums side to side and seeing if the high temps follow the drum. Is there any fluid/gear oil on the shoes?

No fluid in sight. Will swap drums tomorrow and report back. I disconnected the parking brake to each wheel earlier to no effect.

Is it possible for the auto adjusters to extend too far? I don’t know why this would be happening now, a full 5k miles after installing everything.

 

[cas5259]

Swapped drums and had the same problem. Did notice that when the ebrake is pulled, the hot side bell crank lever extends all the way, but the cold side doesn’t. They’re not frozen or anything, I packed them with grease during the refresh.

Hot side ebrake pulled

Cold side ebrake pulled

Thoughts?

 

[Bad Luck]

Swapped drums and had the same problem. Did notice that when the ebrake is pulled, the hot side bell crank lever extends all the way, but the cold side doesn’t. They’re not frozen or anything, I packed them with grease during the refresh.

Hot side ebrake pulled

Cold side ebrake pulled

Thoughts?

Do you have any photos of the brake shoes right by the bell crank lever? I had a problem with the grease from my bell cranks dripping onto the drum/shoe once the brakes heated up enough.

 

[cas5259]

No pics, but the shoes were dry.

 

[Bad Luck]

No pics, but the shoes were dry.

I saw your other post where you swapped drums side to side and the vibration followed the drum. That tells me that the original side the drum was on (left side if I remember correctly) has a problem with getting too hot. I would bet that the adjuster is over adjusting. This could be due to a faulty adjuster assembly or incorrect setup. Have you compared the drum brake setup on both sides to see if there is any difference in setup. They should be mirror images of each other.

 

[cas5259]

I saw your other post where you swapped drums side to side and the vibration followed the drum. That tells me that the original side the drum was on (left side if I remember correctly) has a problem with getting too hot. I would bet that the adjuster is over adjusting. This could be due to a faulty adjuster assembly or incorrect setup. Have you compared the drum brake setup on both sides to see if there is any difference in setup. They should be mirror images of each other.

New drums seem to have solved it. Braking is smooth at any speed for now. Time will tell if there is over adjusting going on. I wonder if the last set of drums were so thin that they were able to get hot and possibly warp a bit.