OP
Replaced everything inside the drum with new hardware, with the exception of the cylinders.
Weird Brake Issue: Rear Brake Locking on Right Side
- Thread starter zachpeakee
- Start date
Replaced everything inside the drum with new hardware, with the exception of the cylinders.
you could try lifting the rear wheels off the ground see if it rotates freely apply brakes and see if they still rotate freely. That is where i would start.
I don’t see any real issue but the adjuster is all the way backed off. Could be a sign of something not seated or in position. That could also be due to drum diameter and lining thickness on the shoes. We used to arc the shoes to make sure they fit the drum correctly but I doubt you could find a shop with the equipment to arc the shoes. You may be able to use the parking brake to try and contour the shoe to the drum.
OP
I'll throw it all in the air tomorrow, and see what I can come up with.
So far, as it is currently, none of it makes any sense to me as to why there's an issue.
I'll tear it all out of the drum, and re-install everything for grins & giggles, in the odd hope that something isn't seating properly.
I'm sure it's going to end up being something simple that i've overlooked.
In the meantime, Oreilly's has new cylinders for only $15 each right beside my house, so I'll toss 2 new ones in the rear just to make positive that the cylinders aren't malfunctioning.
At this point i'm genuinely stumped.
If you take the shoes off put in the drum and how it matches up with the drum. If only the ends of the lining are hitting the drum and not the middle that can cause the shoe to grab. Sanding a chafer at the edges of the shoes (see picture)can help or arc the shoes to match the drum. You may be able to drag the parking brake a bit.
OP
OP
Well. Little update.
Not too sure of the chain of events that lead to it, or what the initial cause was.
BUT...
Braking system on the passenger rear spazzed out again today, and SOMEHOW took the rear bearing retainer with it.
Almost lost the entire axle/hub at 60mph.
Funnily enough, the bearing snapping actually UN-SIEZED the drum.
Again, not sure the chain of events, but that's how it went down.
On a singular good note, I think I figured out the braking issue.
No drips/leaks prior to this event. BUT, this event caused the passenger wheel cylinder to finally blow fluid out.
Which i'm probably crazy for saying, but leads a little bit of hope to my initial assumptions of the cylinder being bad, although it wasn't leaking.
Sucks that it'll be a pricey fix, but hopefully the issues will be gone after this trip.
Trailered the jeep, and towed it home.
Jeep is currently back at the shop, tearing the rear axle down tomorrow.
Not sure whether the braking issue strained the axle, or vise-versa, but they decided to finally go different ways!
... Picture of the "good" side for comparison.
Not too sure of the chain of events that lead to it, or what the initial cause was.
BUT...
Braking system on the passenger rear spazzed out again today, and SOMEHOW took the rear bearing retainer with it.
Almost lost the entire axle/hub at 60mph.
Funnily enough, the bearing snapping actually UN-SIEZED the drum.
Again, not sure the chain of events, but that's how it went down.
On a singular good note, I think I figured out the braking issue.
No drips/leaks prior to this event. BUT, this event caused the passenger wheel cylinder to finally blow fluid out.
Which i'm probably crazy for saying, but leads a little bit of hope to my initial assumptions of the cylinder being bad, although it wasn't leaking.
Sucks that it'll be a pricey fix, but hopefully the issues will be gone after this trip.
Trailered the jeep, and towed it home.
Jeep is currently back at the shop, tearing the rear axle down tomorrow.
Not sure whether the braking issue strained the axle, or vise-versa, but they decided to finally go different ways!
... Picture of the "good" side for comparison.
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OP
Update:
STILL unsure of what caused all the issues, but it's all fixed now.
Axle got torn down today, and the outer bearing was blown to shrapnel.
It blew out the seals when it popped, and locked the rear end.
Must have been a defective bearing, because it only had 84 miles on them since a full axle rebuild.
Axle shafts were still in good shape, so everything was replaced with another set of new bearings/seals.
Drove the TJ home from the shop, and it's back in the garage now.
Surprisingly, the braking issue is no longer there.
I'm not sure if the bearing was allowing a small amount of play, or if it was shifting on the hub, or what the deal was.
(Jeep drove fine prior to the bearing blowing out, aside from the wild brake situation)
Not sure if reinstalling everything was the fix.
But somehow the braking issue just fixed itself in the midst of the chaos.
Either way, entire rear axle has been rebuilt as of 14 miles ago, complete with 4.88 gearing and ARB Air Lockers.
Thanks for all the help.
I'm down to hear any wild conspiracies surrounding this one.
STILL unsure of what caused all the issues, but it's all fixed now.
Axle got torn down today, and the outer bearing was blown to shrapnel.
It blew out the seals when it popped, and locked the rear end.
Must have been a defective bearing, because it only had 84 miles on them since a full axle rebuild.
Axle shafts were still in good shape, so everything was replaced with another set of new bearings/seals.
Drove the TJ home from the shop, and it's back in the garage now.
Surprisingly, the braking issue is no longer there.
I'm not sure if the bearing was allowing a small amount of play, or if it was shifting on the hub, or what the deal was.
(Jeep drove fine prior to the bearing blowing out, aside from the wild brake situation)
Not sure if reinstalling everything was the fix.
But somehow the braking issue just fixed itself in the midst of the chaos.
Either way, entire rear axle has been rebuilt as of 14 miles ago, complete with 4.88 gearing and ARB Air Lockers.
Thanks for all the help.
I'm down to hear any wild conspiracies surrounding this one.
So when you drain and completely clean an axle all the oil is out...so sometimes the outter bearings get installed dry... really best to hose them in gear oil just before you button things up...and once the diff is full you should jack up each side wheel and give it a good couple of minutes to let oil...thick, viscous oil...pour down the tube to the bearings.
Some folks pack em in grease too as insurance...gear oil will wash out the grease... eventually.
My guess is you had dry outer bearings for a bit and they smoked prematurely.
But...all speculation...glad you got it fixed and back on the road!
-Mac
Some folks pack em in grease too as insurance...gear oil will wash out the grease... eventually.
My guess is you had dry outer bearings for a bit and they smoked prematurely.
But...all speculation...glad you got it fixed and back on the road!
-Mac
OP
I'm not too sure.
I had all of the axle work done by a HIGHLY praised offroad shop in my area.
(I've done everything myself, including transmission swap, but gearing is something that still intimidates me. lol)
I dropped the TJ off with the owner at 8am today.
He texted me and said it was a defective bearing, but he tore the axle back down to flush it out and install new hardware.
Both him and myself are still boggled as to what caused the braking issue.
As you said, it could have been something as simple as dry bearings.
He held true to his "2-year warranty" though, and had the axle rebuilt in an 8 hour work-day!
OP
It was all Revolution Gear components.
(according to their site, they provide Timken Bearings)
Although i'm not fond-enough of axle bearings to know if Timken is a reputable manufacturer of them or not.
They used to be,but rumor has it their manufacture is offshore now. Koyo is supposed to be one of the better brands now. Japanese oem's use koyo
OP
Okay, that's pretty cool info.
Hoping this second set of bearings is a decent batch.
If it decides to grenade itself similar to yesterday, i'll surely switch manufacturers.
Hoping this was a 1/100 incident.
I'd say when you were braking it put a load on the bearing and it was locking up the axle making you think the brake was locking up .
OP
THIS is what my conspiracy has been as well.
As soon as the bearing popped, I knew it was bad, BUT the brakes magically worked correctly again.
Initially I thought it was the brake cylinder blowing out.
It was just one quick "POP" and everything went to normal.
(aside from the fact I was pissing axle fluid everywhere and my axle was now free-floating in the housing. lol)
Have only drove about 20 miles home from the shop since I picked it back up a few hours ago, and didn't have a single issue.
It's snowing here, so I tried to lock the rear brake up a little, and it acted in-sync with the right side.
Hoping that was the cause.
I've installed many Set 10 bearings, they are always pre-packed with grease that the gear oil eventually washes out.