Sprung a leak...

[Mark_88]

Just discovered I have a leaky rear brake cylinder....

I was, fortunately, just pulling out of the driveway when I discovered this...had a rather urgent need to stop the other day and I kinda locked up the brakes...which I don't usually do...

I've got the part on order but thought I'd ask a silly question...

Has anyone ever had a leaky cylinder that could be corrected by anything short of replacement? I was watching the brakes (drum removed) while someone pushed the pedal and noticed that the back side was not pushing the shoe outward...and, of course, I noticed that there was brake fluid in the drum and on the parts below the cylinder...and fluid leaked around the rear push rod behind the rubber cup.

Could this be the seal is pooched on that cylinder or maybe just extended too far during the hard braking?

I also noticed that the rears were not adjusted out as far as they could have been...which leads me to my third silly question...

How often should the rear brakes be adjusted either manually or via fast back up and slam on the brakes?

I haven't done either since I fixed them about two years ago...been meaning to do that but just never did it...my stupid!

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I used to rebuild my calipers [never needed to do the rear slaves] until I found that rebuilt was cheaper than I could get the rebuild kit for.
IIRC The rear shoe is actuated by the front shoe, and if there is nothing for the front to actuate against won't push the rear.
I always thought they were supposed to be self-adjusting, so after the initial adjustment would need no more.
I'm just a redneck hippy tho and have no formal training.

Richard

 

[Mark_88]

Thanks for the input...I got the T plugged for now and waiting on the rebuilt cylinder...I may attempt to rebuild the one I have since it is only about two or three years old...

My brakes are suddenly working like they should...nice and firm and the fronts grabbed right away...so it may have had a slow leak before but I didn't see any drop in fluid level prior to this...checked it maybe a few weeks ago when I was adding oil...

The rear shoes looked fairly new so I'd imagine they were not really adjusted up...and that is after about two years of driving...gonna have to check the other side to see if it is worn any more than the driver side...may have to replace the shoes all around if that is the case.

 

[Tedybear]

With the cost of the rebuild "Kit" to do a wheel cylinder...plus the headache...err "Labor".

I'd just do the replacement. At the end of the day? It's a better way.

As a sidebar note? If the shoes are coated to any degree with brake fluid? It's a crap shoot. They might get grabby even if you hose them down with brake cleaner. Anytime something like that gets on the shoes? I replace the wheel cylinder, shoes, and hardware. It's the only way to ensure everything is 100%.

You might get lucky if they didn't get nailed much.

S-

 

[Mark_88]

Yes, thanks...that was one of the second things I looked at...they were a bit soaked in brake fluid and due to not having a can of brake cleaner handy (where did that get to?) I just plugged the line and hope that if I have to use the E brake for anything that they work...grabby might be better in an E situation but I don't know...

Didn't price out the replacement shoes/hold down kit yet but will look into that aspect of this mishap soon enough...