What did you do to your Ranger today? (Part Deux!)

[scotts90ranger]

Drum brake issues were part of why I went with rear discs on my '90. I think I remember having that issue before, don't remember what it was...

 

[Curious Hound]

Drum brake issues were part of why I went with rear discs on my '90. I think I remember having that issue before, don't remember what it was...

Considering what I figured out, I wouldn't call it a drum brake issue. It's a "bone headed fabricator" issue. Overall, I dont have any issues with drum brakes. They work great for my purposes and aren't appreciably more difficult to maintain than disc brakes. Just think, if a disc brake rotor goes bad, you have to mess with wheel bearings. Drum goes bad? Slide the old drum off and slide the new drum on.

 

[Uncle Gump]

You could likely adjust the cables enough to overcome the deflection of the cable.

A slight reroute of the cable would be better... but you're still likely to have to adjust the cables when done.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Considering what I figured out, I wouldn't call it a drum brake issue. It's a "bone headed fabricator" issue. Overall, I dont have any issues with drum brakes. They work great for my purposes and aren't appreciably more difficult to maintain than disc brakes. Just think, if a disc brake rotor goes bad, you have to mess with wheel bearings. Drum goes bad? Slide the old drum off and slide the new drum on.

On the Explorer 8.8 it's two more bolts, take caliper off, slide rotor off then slide rotor on, no wheel bearings involved... my drum brakes would lock up randomly when you didn't want them to even with fairly light pedal movement and with the lunchbox locker that got a bit more dramatic looking than was convenient... I had -$20 in my swap after I sold the axle I bought for the parts , well I guess that probably covered the gear oil involved in pulling the axles to do the swap...

 

[Curious Hound]

You could likely adjust the cables enough to overcome the deflection of the cable.

Not sure where I would adjust the cables. The star wheels are in their shortest position now. The driver side parking brake lever was not fully retracted in the rest position. The only way I see to get more cable is by getting rid of that deflection by making a new bracket.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Not sure where I would adjust the cables. The star wheels are in their shortest position now. The driver side parking brake lever was not fully retracted in the rest position. The only way I see to get more cable is by getting rid of that deflection by making a new bracket.

Typically... the individual rear cables are non adjustable. Adjustment is usually where the main cable connects to the equalizer. Loosen that connection and it will relieve the pull on the driver side cable.

 

[Curious Hound]

Typically... the individual rear cables are non adjustable. Adjustment is usually where the main cable connects to the equalizer. Loosen that connection and it will relieve the pull on the driver side cable.

Nuttin there to adjust.

 

[JoshT]

Considering what I figured out, I wouldn't call it a drum brake issue. It's a "bone headed fabricator" issue. Overall, I dont have any issues with drum brakes. They work great for my purposes and aren't appreciably more difficult to maintain than disc brakes. Just think, if a disc brake rotor goes bad, you have to mess with wheel bearings. Drum goes bad? Slide the old drum off and slide the new drum on.

On what? He's talking about disc brakes on an 8.8" rear axle, not the front discs on a TTB.

I'll agree with the not having any real issues with drum brakes. If they work great for your pusposes is something that only you can determine.

I don't agree with the difference in difficulty to maintain. On drums it's usually shoes, springs, or wheel cylinders that go bad, not the drum itself. On discs it's pad wear or rotor warping. Drum brakes require removal of several components and springs to dissassemble and service. Rear discs require removing two bolts and sliding the caliper off the rotor. No bearings to mess with on the rear discs. If you want to say that disc require more frequest servicing, I'd grant that. Likely 2 to 1 ratio on replacement cycle, but either one is going to last much longer that the front.

Typically... the individual rear cables are non adjustable. Adjustment is usually where the main cable connects to the equalizer. Loosen that connection and it will relieve the pull on the driver side cable.

Thinking about it, I don't recall seeing a cable adjustment on any of my Rangers. Unless it is up in/near the pedal assembly, I'm not sure that there is one.

 

[Curious Hound]

On what? He's talking about disc brakes on an 8.8" rear axle, not the front discs on a

I'm talking about the 31 spline 8.8" on my Ranger.

And, referring to disc brakes, my experience has been front TTBs on Rangers and F150s, front IFS on my 97 F150, front TIB and rear 10.25"(?) on my 2002 F250. On that F250 rear, I need to service and rebuild the parking brakes which don't work at all. I'm not looking forward to that job because I don't enjoy doing wheel bearings.

And I never said discs were difficult to service. I just Basically said that drums are not difficult to service.

 

[Roert42]

On that F250 rear, I need to service and rebuild the parking brakes which don't work at all. I'm not looking forward to that job because I don't enjoy doing wheel bearings.

You can get a whole parking brake assemble from dornan with new backer plate and everything reassembled, for the 10.25. That’s what I did when I had to replace the backer plate, saves a lot of time.

Need to replace the wheel bearing seals though to take off the whole assembly.

Also requires a couple special tools.

 

[Saddle Tramp]

I changed the fuel filter and as a bonus got sprayed with the cologne that drives women wild...

87 Octane.

 

[Rick W]

I'm talking about the 31 spline 8.8" on my Ranger.

And, referring to disc brakes, my experience has been front TTBs on Rangers and F150s, front IFS on my 97 F150, front TIB and rear 10.25"(?) on my 2002 F250. On that F250 rear, I need to service and rebuild the parking brakes which don't work at all. I'm not looking forward to that job because I don't enjoy doing wheel bearings.

And I never said discs were difficult to service. I just Basically said that drums are not difficult to service.

I’m sure you caught in my post that I said cut the nuts, and then use new bolts. That was a typo: cut the nuts, clean the threads, and then use new nuts.

I would find it very hard to believe that the U bolts stretched. They are usually pretty hard steel and they will break before they would ever stretch enough to cause a rattle

The only place they might allow play at the nuts, and the cross brace is, if the crown of the U bolt bent around the springs, that may be possible, but the threaded part or the shaft of the legs stretching? I don’t think that could happen.

you have to take them off anyway, so if you cut the nuts and break them off, you should be able to see if there’s any considerable wear on the bolt threads at that point. If you run a dye over them, you may be able to tell where the dye is cutting through the surface rust, and just barely grazing the actual steel surface where the nuts were. If you do that, and it looks like brandy brand new cut where the nuts were, then I would agree that those threads are probably deformed.

I’m not trying to press it, just food for thought, to hopefully help you think it out as inexpensively as possible.

 

[JoshT]

I'm talking about the 31 spline 8.8" on my Ranger.

And, referring to disc brakes, my experience has been front TTBs on Rangers and F150s, front IFS on my 97 F150, front TIB and rear 10.25"(?) on my 2002 F250. On that F250 rear, I need to service and rebuild the parking brakes which don't work at all. I'm not looking forward to that job because I don't enjoy doing wheel bearings.

And I never said discs were difficult to service. I just Basically said that drums are not difficult to service.

You said the following in reply to Scott talking about rear discs on a Ranger/Explorer axle. I'll quote it so there's no risk of me saying it wrong.

Just think, if a disc brake rotor goes bad, you have to mess with wheel bearings.

That's fundamentally incorrect in regards to what you are responding to. He wan't referring to your F-250, I've got one of those too BTW, he was referring to a Ranger (and F-150 should be same). These smaller trucks and their semifloat axles don't require messing with any bearings to change rotors, or parking brake shoes for that matter.

You also said this:

Drum goes bad? Slide the old drum off and slide the new drum on.

While the statement itself is true, it is also misleading. It's almost never the drum itself that goes bad. I'd give it better than 90% that when a drum brake fails it is worn shoes, failed wheel cylinder, or broken spring, while the drum itself is perfectly acceptable to reuse. That's more involved than slide old drum off and slide new drum on.

Most common failure items on disc brake are caliper, pad wear, or rotor glazing/warping. All of those can be fixed by removing two or four bolts.

In relation to the axles being discussed, repairing a failed drum brake system is going to involve more work than repairing a failed disc brake system. The discs do have added complexity of also incorporating a drum for parking break, but it rarely fails or needs to be touched (unlike the drums). Yes that parking drum can fail or the shoes wear, but relatively speaking its still an easier repair than a normal drum system since it is less complex and no hydraulics involved.

 

[JoshT]

You can get a whole parking brake assemble from dornan with new backer plate and everything reassembled, for the 10.25.

I'll have to keep that in mind for when I eventually have to do it on mine.

 

[Curious Hound]

You can get a whole parking brake assemble from dornan with new backer plate and everything reassembled, for the 10.25. That’s what I did when I had to replace the backer plate, saves a lot of time.

Need to replace the wheel bearing seals though to take off the whole assembly.

Also requires a couple special tools.

Thank you very much. I can figure out the tools. I'm pretty well equipped for most mechanical jobs.