Any one know the right way to bleed the brakes on this truck it has the rear wheel anti-lock brakes, I replaced the pads and all the springs and the wheel cylinders and now the brakes are worse and the brake light is on> I bled them like a regular system but there must be some trick to these abs brakes any Help appreciated.
If you replaced the shoes, you probably need to tighten up the rear brakes. They are bled just like any other system, and I bet they're bled OK, the rears just might be too loose, which will set the brake light. So, give em' a looksee and let us know.
Doc
try this. drive in reverse at 10-15 miles per hour and hammer the brakes. do it 3-4 times. this should set the rear brake shoes to where they should be
I read that if I unhook the combination valve and the light goes out that may be part of the problem so I went ahead and unplugged the one wire that goes into it and the light went out I am still not sure what the problem is. I have already tried what you said with backing up and jamming on the brakes to set them is there a better way to do this I am not sure that it worked.
Just went back out and checked and even the parking brake is not working so the pads must not be out far enough to be hitting the drums. anyway to adjust them out with out having to remove the wheels and turning the adjusting screw out? I tried driving in reverse and hitting the brakes hard but it didn't seem to work maybe I need to do it somemore??
There is a brake adjuster that you need to tighten up. There is no access window so you need to pull the drum. It should be a snug fit to get the drum back on. I have to do this every few thousand miles, so it's one of the reasons I hate drums.
GMC Gremlin
KJ, Pull your drums and hit them with a wire brush for a bit to clean them up a little. I'll bet there is a little oval shaped indentation on the drum. Knock that out with a cold chisel and hammer and you can adjust your rears without removing the drum each time. I did this on my 87 K5 and the wife's 97 Yukon. JR
JR, Trust me, my drums are clean. You could eat off the backing plate and the internals have a purdier coat of paint then I bet your 87 K5 has on the body. It's simple: Drum brakes suck. I looked high and low and Doc and myself are under the agreement that there is no access window on a 10 bolt in that range. Do you have a 12,14, or Dana XX?
GMC Gremlin
Well, for all you Chevy truck guys, rear drum brakes are making a re-appearance on the 2005 trucks. It looks like you can get either drums or discs on the back now. They use the newer design drum brakes that should last longer then the older style. And this style appears to stay adjusted better. This same style of brake drum has already been in use for years on the Venture style vans.
I'd say that folks who want a work truck will be better off getting the drum brakes on the rear. Less likely to screw up the way the rear disc brakes do.
Ian
What problems do the rear drums offered by chevy have?
GMC Gremlin
About time. The only advantages to discs is that some are lighter than drums, they don't fade as much since they shed heat better and for the most part they adjust easier. Other than that drums win in stopping power and durability hands down.
KJ, I have a 10 bolt rear on both trucks. The access is not on the backing plate, it is on the drum itself. Even the new replacement drums I put on the K5 had the knockout. JR
Okay, I read what I want. However: I have pulled my drums and spent about 1 hour each cleaning them (so I could paint them yellow) and didn't notice it. I guess now is as good a time as any to see if I can't notice that oval. (Need to tighten rear brakes) Needless to say, still have to remove the wheel to adjust!
GMC Gremlin
On the K5 the slots on the chrome steel wheels allow me to adjust with the wheels on. I have to remove the alloy wheels on the Yukon. JR
Well I just tightened the rears on my 1990 GMC Jimmy. No ovals present. I can't remember if they are there on my 1985 K5, but I also don't want to play with that today.... Either there after-market drums, I'm too blind, or it's a Chevy thing not a GMC thing. Whatever it is, my now 5K or say old pads are finally starting to look like "old" pads (even surface) and hopefully it will be a long time before I have to pull the drums again
*caugh*. Up until now, there had been patches that were smooth and patches that were still rough like when new.GMC Gremlin
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