Hi

Out and about today the truck started diving hard to the right under braking - enough to pull the steering wheel out of my hand as I braked. Came straight home and noticed that the right hand front drum was a lot warmer than the left, so I put the truck in the garage (huge f***-up - see below) and checked the brakes. The right brakes seemed to be rubbing, so I backed the adjusters off, but the rubbing wouldn't stop, so I pulled the front drums and again, nothing obviously wrong. On reassembly, however, the left hand drum spins freely, while the right hand doesn't and the rubbing sound persists even with the brake adjusters backed fully off. I put chalk on the friction surface and rotated the drum, but there's no evidence that the shoes are contacting the drum, so I don't think the noise is the brakes rubbing.

Does that sound like bearings? There isn't any of the usual play I'd expect with bearings, nor any grumbling sounds, just the sandy rubbing sound and that the drum doesn't spin freely. The bearings look pristine (no scoring on the outer taper bearings etc), but the inner bearing does seems quite loose. Is that normal?

If it's bearings, JK do a kit, which looks to be the simplest option, but does that contain everything I need? The bearings look like they sit in polished bushes. Do I need those as well? I can't find anywhere that lists them?

And the f***-up? I screwed up badly - I'd unloaded the truck and was so distracted by the pulling problem, I forgot to shut the treasure chest door before pulling in to the garage. I've torn the rearmost hinge mostly out. It's not detached completely, but it's pretty bad. I'm so ...... at myself. What a way to ruin a day...

Easily done with your mind on the brakes. Hope you feel better about it in the morning.

Watch the JK kits, they don't match Splits, as they're really for bays so the grease seal is wrong....

Is the drum rubbing on the backing plate?

clymoj wrote:Easily done with your mind on the brakes. Hope you feel better about it in the morning.

Thanks. Still a bit gutted, but more concerned about the practicalities of getting it fixed now. Will call the insurance company in the morning. Not sure what the process is for repairing classics under insurance though.

vwJim wrote:Is the drum rubbing on the backing plate?

Thanks for the tip.

I tried working round the drum, levering the back plate away this morning, but it didn't make any difference. Didn't get a chance to do anymore, but I'll get the drum back off in the week and use some chalk on the edge of the drum to see if it leaves a witness mark on the backplate.

This is exactly what happens with my brakes. Same wheel as well. Could be the flexy hose. Have to go through everything again this week but my feeling is that it could be a bearing. Keep me posted!

Gertjan

I had a similar thing happen on my beetle. On the way back from its mot the front near side wheel came off and jammed in the front wing. I was then unable to steer. Luckily I was just pulling away from the lights so only doing about 20 mph.


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Bolted everything back up in the week and adjusted the shoes as I'd received a new carb and needed to test run it.

I pressed the brakes once and it pulled hard to the left (opposite of before), but then settled down and was stopping dead straight, even under hard braking. Everything was running fine, so I carried on using the truck. After about 10 miles of local driving and frequent braking however, the pull to the right started to come back. I might have been imagining it, but it felt like it pulled more noticeably under gentle braking than under heavy. When I got home, there was a smell of hot brakes (like the smell you get if you leave the handbrake on ) and the right hand front wheel was noticeably warmer than the left, which felt normal. Rears both felt normal too.

I'm becoming more convinced this is a brake issue. Does that fit with the symptoms? What diagnosis can I do next? I've pulled the drum and everything looks fine inside. The shoes open and retract as I'd expect when the pedal is pumped. The hard and soft brake lines were all new over the winter, as was the master cylinder (I converted to dual circuit) and the left front and right-rear cylinders (the former were seized and the latter I damaged replacing the hub seal).

The issue only seems to affect the right-hand front.

I thought when I installed the RH front hard line that one of the bends was a bit tight, but having had another look at the weekend and going back over the pictures that I took, I can't see anything that looks wrong. I couldn't identify which bend I might have been concerned about at the time.

Any ideas?

OK, this is the pipe bend that I was a bit concerned about at the time (right hand front as it passes through in to the wheel well).

Does this bend look OK? Is it too tight and if so, could it cause the brakes on that wheel to drag? It's not my best work When I did the other side, I gave it more of a kick out from the bodywork, so that side has a more sweeping bend.







Or could this be a sign that the front right cylinders are duff? I had to replace the left front over the winter as they'd seized, but the right front seemed fine. The brake fluid in the old single-circuit master cylinder was black, so I'm wondering if crud could be lodged in those cylinders. Could they be sticking 'open' and causing drag?

If not, anyone got any other suggestions?

So you didn't replace the slave cylinders as matching sets? Is so, there's your problem.

vwJim wrote:So you didn't replace the slave cylinders as matching sets? Is so, there's your problem.

No, I couldn't afford to do both sides that month and once I'd bled it, I wasn't keen to pull it all apart again. I've ordered a pair now. Will see if that does it.

I am having the same problem at the moment and have done the following:
Changed the flexy hose, checked the play in the master cylinder, bled the system checked the brake shoes and backed them off slightly more than usual, checked the wheel cylinders. So everything of the brake system seems ok now. Went for a long drive and problem didn't seem to appear but the same wheel is slightly warmer than the near side one. There is no binding as far as I can tell and no rubbing of any parts. Will have a longer drive this weekend to see how the heat build up is within the drum. I suppose if there is still build up of heat it might be the bearings which generate the heat.

Hope this will give you something to work with as well.
Let us know how you get on with changing the cylinders.

Gertjan

I have driven quite a bit this weekend and I think the adjustments done have helped.
Although I still have a weird noise some of the time but it doesn't seem to bind anymore.

Sometimes when I brake I can hear a squeaky noise just before standstill. The drum only gets a little warmer than the other side after breaking a lot but not after a 40mile motorway drive. So I think the bearings are ok.

There is dust from the brake shoes on the wheels but I'm not sure how much is normal. I'm driving without hubcaps so probably notice it more.

Have to do some more driving I think to be sure that the squeaking is not the same problem or something which need more investigation.

Gertjan

Changed the brake cylinders this weekend. Haven't driven it very far or for very long, but it's not pulling to the right any more and the wheel isn't getting hot.

I also changed the brake springs because the brakes were suspiciously easy to reassemble. Worn springs could have caused the shoes not to retract fully/properly, so they may have been rubbing all along.

Will update if the pulling comes back and if so, I'll change the bearings as well.