Rear wheel brake cylinder.

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Rick_Grff

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I'm redoing my rear brakes again do to not doing them right the first time! I removed my drum and sprayed brake cleaner on everything. Then I got a long pole to reach the brake pedal and gently pushes down the pedal. There was very little movement on the front brakeshoe and none at all on the rear brake shoe. I repeated that action a couple of times and the rear brakeshoe never moved. That's not common right? Both shoes should expand outward? Thanks Rick
 

Sean James

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You need two people to do it right. But using a pole to push the brake pedal is pretty Hillbilly smart. You need to spray WD-40 on the rear "shoes" parts, not on the "shoes" themselves, but on all the springs and metal-to-metal parts. The fronts are called "Brake Pads", while the rear are called "Brake Shoes" don't get them confused, it really helps when trying to explain things. And YES, the rear "shoes" should move outward when the brake pedal is depressed. With power brakes, you may want to have the engine running to provide vacuum to the brake system to make them move. But this takes TWO (2) people.

You don't want to get injured or killed while messing with the truck, you must be on flat ground, front tires blocked, in Park, and jackstands PLUS a hydraulic jack holding up the rear, for safety reasons. This is the only way to have the engine running to provide vacuum to the brake system and having someone VERY slowly and gently push on the bake pedal to see if your "wheel cylinders" are moving in and out freely. If they push the pedal down too far, while you have the drum off the rear end, you can push the wheel cylinder apart, and have to put it all back together again from scratch.

You can buy new rear wheel cylinders for like $7 bucks from AutoZone etc, and just change them out easy, if rust is not an issue. But you should also look for rusted rear brake lines along the left frame rail, it is VERY common for our trucks to have the brake lines rust out under the fuel tank and leak out the brake fluid. You should be able to see evidence of this by poking around with a flashlight around the fuel tank.

Go to YouTube and search some videos. Mine were totally jacked up and rusted out. I had to buy new rear wheel cylinders, and new brake line from the front under the firewall, and run the new brake line to the connector "T" fitting above the rear axle. It's really not that hard, but it takes time and learning.

Also, the rear "Brake Shoes" are front to rear specific. Meaning that each wheel or set of brake shoes, has a front side shoe, and a rear side shoe. When you get at new set of brake shoes, you should have Four (4) shoes, 2 for each side. Each side has a SHORT shoe and a LONG shoe. Both the left and right side "SHORT" shoe goes towards the front of the truck. The longer "LONG" shoe, goes on the REAR of the axle. Again, youtube is your friend here.

Take your time, you will get it. and for God's Sake, find a friend to help, or go to the bar and pick-up some **, they don't have to be very smart to push on the brake pedal :)
 

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