99 Drum brakes from hell! Help!

[JCyr8511]

Hello all.... So I have a 1999 ranger with the off road package and 10" drum brakes in the rear. this past winter I had problems with the e-brake stuck on, new cables fixed that problem. More recently the rear brakes have been sticking slightly on until I would back up about ten feet. However as I'm going down the road the right rear will come back on and drag. This is usually accompanied by an audible bang along with the rear end squatting slightly. Not to mention the loss of speed and my left foot needing a little more weight to get down the road. It doesnt always do it, and sometimes it will start dragging at low speeds. (2-5mph) I've replaced all the hardware and adjusters, along with the drums and shoes. Just to give more info, when I take the wheel off I cannot spin the drum forward, only backwards, the adjusters are all the way in and this wasn't the case when I replaced all the parts about a week ago. After a visual inspection, I cannot find any problems, all springs cables, etc. are in the proper spot and nothing is missing...whats going on here??

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

bad wheel cylinders? are the shoes on backwards?

 

[JCyr8511]

wheel cylinders weren't leaking, and I had my girlfriend step on the pedal with the drum off and the shoes moved out and back in.I did try to buy wheel cylinders, the guy at NAPA asked me what size the inlet bore was, I had no idea so I skipped it this time. Any idea what size the inlet would be? Maybe I'll buy throw them on there and see what happens

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

i don't know. my thoughts are that if you have dirty gritty rusty brake fluid and your wheel cylinders are all porous inside they can get stuck.

sounds like you covered all the other bases. do the self adjusters move freely?

 

[JCyr8511]

yeah i put new self adjusters in and put anti-seize on them... i'm beginning to think my axle shafts are moving around. The pinion bearing is shot, (at the least) so maybe c-clips are about to go? letting axle shafts move, in turn drums are moving and hitting? or would that be a long shot?

 

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

if the drums have a hell of a ridge on the outer edge then yes.

 

[JCyr8511]

thanks, i'll take a look when I pull them off. Hopefully soon. I'll post when I figure it all out

 

[Earl43P]

Once you have the tire off the ground, man handle it and see how much the axle wobbles. Pry bar and all. Then take it apart. If the end bearing is that bad, the seal would be toast and gear oil leakage evident, if it's full.