Brake Drum Overheating

Jul 15, 2003 4 Replies
D

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


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B

Denny B opined

Yep. Rust in the brake cylinder.

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M

I'd check the wheel cylinder, and the line running to it from the master cyl. Like one said, rust could be a likely culprit. I assume the guy adjusted the brakes when he did the brake job. So that means the adjustment should have been ok, and besides, with wear, it would build a wider gap until the self adjuster kicked in when backing up. So to me, that means it's sticking. Enough crud blocking a line, and the wheel cyl can't release fast enough. It slowly retracts, or if real bad, it hardly retracts at all. If you readjust, and then it starts dragging again when you stomp on the brake, it's not releasing right. If rust is the problem, that means your whole system is rusty. I'd flush the whole thing until all is clear. Any lines seem restricted, I'd replace em. MK

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