Hey guys - I've been busy with other matters, but also waiting for parts to come in ..1 part/tool held me up for 3 weeks. Finally I jumped on to adding the hardware to my front brake(s) and, still having issues on the pass side front wheel ( the one that had the blown bearing and damage ). So if you recall, before I got into the missing self-adjuster brake parts quest. I had installed a used facory orig replacment drum/hub w/ the new bearings and it would not spin free - rubbing the shoes badly as I spun it ...but not rubbing equal all around, just on part of the drum. My friend helping me thought that maybe the replacement drum and hub would adjust itself to the situation. And advised me to drive a little around town and check the temps on the wheel, etc... You gentlemen know we've already discussed this part of the story before earlier in this thread. But that's to bring you up to speed on where I am today and what's going on with that pass side.
So I installed the brake self adjust parts and then put on the hub/drum to check the bearings and see if it would spin w/out rubbing. This time I had backed the brake shoes way off the drum. It was not even close, so as to be sure my test would be to see if the hub and bearings were able to spin. They were not. but the thing was it was not rubbing anything this time, it was just tough to turn ...it felt like I was forcing it to spin through molasses and not grease. I have new bearings in there and something is just not right. About 4 weeks before when I did the drum spin the drum would spin on the bearing pretty well, but at that time the problem was it would rub on the brake shoes part of the way and stop the spin. Now the brakes are backed off and I assumed it would spin freely all the way. But instead I get a new problem where it seems the new beariing itself just struggles to spin.
SO I decided to try and use my original drum. My thinking was since it was the original it would be "adjusted" and worn to fit right and spin free. Dumb thought maybe, but i was getting desperate. I pressed out the good hub on the replacement drum assembly, and put the good hub into my original drum ( which was in good shape ) ...crossed my fingers and gave it a go. Well it went poorly, for some reason it is rubbing all around, but not the brake shoes - They're still backed out of the equation. No, what's happening now is it seem the drum is pushing too far onto the spindle and the back side of the drum ( that faces toward the engine) is rubbing the backing plate itself. Like the inner bearing or outer seal is going too far on the spindle and thus allowing the whole drum to go back too far and ...it's a mess and it's not ever done this before. And the options of what to try next seem to be few. It's been suggested that having the drum turned may help, or replacing the spindle - (which looks okay but maybe it's damaged more than can be seen?) I just dont know how I went from having the drums rub a little on the brake shoes, to not rubbing on the shoes, to the bearing spinning like through molasses, to now rubbing the backing plate all around and molasses combined. If I need a new spindle, where can that be found? I did a little searching and came up empty. I did read that the same front wheel spindle for drum brakes was used on many Mopar makes from 1950's to 80's ...So I'm sure there out there, but where?
That's my sad tale so far. This is my first dive into this, so forgive my rookie-ness. I wanted fix this myself but I think this may have gotten out of my ability.
So I installed the brake self adjust parts and then put on the hub/drum to check the bearings and see if it would spin w/out rubbing. This time I had backed the brake shoes way off the drum. It was not even close, so as to be sure my test would be to see if the hub and bearings were able to spin. They were not. but the thing was it was not rubbing anything this time, it was just tough to turn ...it felt like I was forcing it to spin through molasses and not grease. I have new bearings in there and something is just not right. About 4 weeks before when I did the drum spin the drum would spin on the bearing pretty well, but at that time the problem was it would rub on the brake shoes part of the way and stop the spin. Now the brakes are backed off and I assumed it would spin freely all the way. But instead I get a new problem where it seems the new beariing itself just struggles to spin.
SO I decided to try and use my original drum. My thinking was since it was the original it would be "adjusted" and worn to fit right and spin free. Dumb thought maybe, but i was getting desperate. I pressed out the good hub on the replacement drum assembly, and put the good hub into my original drum ( which was in good shape ) ...crossed my fingers and gave it a go. Well it went poorly, for some reason it is rubbing all around, but not the brake shoes - They're still backed out of the equation. No, what's happening now is it seem the drum is pushing too far onto the spindle and the back side of the drum ( that faces toward the engine) is rubbing the backing plate itself. Like the inner bearing or outer seal is going too far on the spindle and thus allowing the whole drum to go back too far and ...it's a mess and it's not ever done this before. And the options of what to try next seem to be few. It's been suggested that having the drum turned may help, or replacing the spindle - (which looks okay but maybe it's damaged more than can be seen?) I just dont know how I went from having the drums rub a little on the brake shoes, to not rubbing on the shoes, to the bearing spinning like through molasses, to now rubbing the backing plate all around and molasses combined. If I need a new spindle, where can that be found? I did a little searching and came up empty. I did read that the same front wheel spindle for drum brakes was used on many Mopar makes from 1950's to 80's ...So I'm sure there out there, but where?
That's my sad tale so far. This is my first dive into this, so forgive my rookie-ness. I wanted fix this myself but I think this may have gotten out of my ability.
