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Brake Drum Overheating Solved.......

) I bled my front and back brakes today. The brake fluid I purchased today was a clear colour. The fluid I removed was a dark brown. Honestly I could not believe the state of the fluid that was removed. One of the back bleeder screws I know that the first liquid that came out was rusted water it fell on newspaper and was absorbed by the paper.

I always maintain my vehicle but honestly I have never paid much attention to brake fluid. That will now change for sure.

After doing this bleed job which I consider was absolutely necessary because I could see how dirty the fluid was compared to the new fluid, I still did not know if this would solve my Brake Drum Overheating problem.

2 ) So while I had the two rear wheels removed, I changed the two drums over. The drum that overheated went to the side that was not overheating (passengers side ) and the drum that did not overheat went to the side that overheated.( driver's side )

And what can you guess my original problem overheated driver's side drum is no longer overheated it is normal. The problem is now the passenger's side drum is overheated.

So the problem is a defective drum!!!!!!!!!!

Last week I was thinking the problem could be the drum and went to Canadian Tire to price drums. Made in China drum $29.99 Made in USA drum $49.99

Three years ago when I was new in this city I went to a place to buy 2 new drums and was charged $29.99 and I now suspect that they must have been the made in China drums. This one drum must have been defective from the beginning. I had both drums in my hands today they are identical look the same, weigh about the same, markings the same they 9 inch drums, you would never know one is defective.

So my dilemma now is do I buy two $49.99 drums or just one.

See below my original postings to this NG

Thanks for your help Denny B

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2) 2nd posting August 23 / 2003

Can brake fluid break down?

If brake fluid has not been changed for many years can it break down ?

If it can how will you know ?

Thanks in advance Denny B

1) 1st posting July 15 / 2003

Brake Drum Overheating

I have a 1981 Ford Fairmont 6cyl, 3.3 L auto trans and the drivers side brake drum is overheating.

In June 2002 I redid front and rear brakes with the best kind of linings I could get from a clutch and brake rebuilder. They told me that it was the kind used by taxis and police, it was made by Bendix. Heard a ticking noise the other day, investigated and discovered that the drivers side shoes were very worn and the longer lining at the rear were cracked where the rivets are. The passenger side drum brakes were OK no problem there, probably another year's lining left. Yesterday I got new (Rebuilt) drum pads from Canadian tire, just had time to install the defective side linings and then tried the car out. After 2 miles of driving I could smell something was overheating and it was the linings rubbing against the drum. I removed the drum saw where there were rubbing marks and sanded the linings. It is derivable now but I find that the drivers side drum still gets hotter then the passengers side. The parking brake is OK it does release and the cables have been replaced they are free. The self adjuster is all the way in.

Any tips as to what I am overlooking or what can be causing the one drum to get much hotter then the other side.

Thanks in advance Denny B

Reply to
Denny B
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I'm not quite sure how you reached this conclusion. In what way is the drum defective? Is it worn past the ID wear limit? It it warped (pulsing)? In all likelihood, your brakes are improperly adjusted, possibly due to defective or improperly installed adjusters.

Before you spend $$ on drums, verify that the existing ones are out of spec.

-Jeff Deeney-

Reply to
Jeff Deeney

I don't understand your reply. I do realize it is the drum.

Denny B

Reply to
Denny B

But *why* is it the drum? Did you readjust the brake shoes when you swapped drums? If you didn't adjust, then the problem could have gone away simply because the hot drum had more clearance with the shoes on the other side.

As I said before, these components have specifications on them. The major defects would be wrong ID, or out of true. I think you're wasting money (& possibly endangering yourself and others) if you swap the drum without understanding the nature of the defect.

Then again, I'm an anal-retentive mechanical engineer.

-Jeff Deeney-

Reply to
Jeff Deeney

I have been doing my own brake jobs on my cars for over 30 years and make this statement simply to imply that I know what the inside of a brake drum looks like.

Yes I set the auto adjuster's to minimum.

Understand the hot drum always remains the hot drum no matter where you put it, no matter how you set the auto adjusters.

Today I purchased a quality drum made in USA, installed it and now both back drums heat about the same, no more smelling the overheated brake linings, no more the drum getting so hot that you can feel even the tire rim is too hot and even the hub cap is too hot.

This has solved my problem.

As one poster stated the drum has possibly reached its minimum thickness.

Another poster stated he also had a similar problem with a "bamboo" made in China drum.

Thanks Denny B

Driver's

Reply to
Denny B

Reply to
lugnut

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