Rear drum tips

The_Josh_Bear

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So at some point a few years ago I switched to 33" tires, which are larger of course and make a longer "lever" for the brakes to slow down. I switched to thicker mud/snow tires and they are also a heavier rotating mass. All put together, my braking wasn't great to start, and after the upgrades it was worse.

We know that all things being equal, the rear auto-adjusters on these rigs is prone to sucking. So we have to stay on top of that by manually adjusting them or making sure they work and jamming the brakes in reverse.
That said, I found another major failure point that might not seem obvious! Like, I'm really annoyed that I didn't know this!

The parking brake pedal adjustment is critical to the rear brakes working. Not just a little bit, it's what "pre-loads" the shoes so the brake cylinder doesn't have to go very far to get some shoe contact and begin the braking process. As an example if you could push your parking brake pedal to the floor(but didn't cause you're driving), that braking system has to take up a lot of slack before the shoes are making contact. And Ford in their infinite wisdom designed the front brakes to operate based on pressure from the rear brakes. That to me is INSANE, but it's what they(and pretty much every OE) did. If it was me the rears and fronts should both be closed systems that have nothing to do with each other.

But wait, that's not the thing I found out! I found out recently that you can have working parking brake cables that are so stiff that they make the drums very very slow to react to pedal inputs and it creates the same problem. Mash the brake pedal and the truck just kind of looks at you for a half-second then finally starts braking. This was a revelation to me recently and I'm so enjoying brakes that ACTUALLY WORK!
In my case I had replaced one cable and was having issues so I replaced the other cable finally and BAM, it was like braking with a whole new vehicle.

The fact that they are less than $20 each is great, too. Just takes a little patience and a lot of random tools to change the dumb things.
I was reading about someone's disc brake rears and thinking, "Man I love my (drum) brakes now, haven't thought that ever in over 16 years..."

Just wanted to share to hopefully help out others like myself that always hated these drums. Now I have the opposite problem that I need to make sure not to lock up the rears!

TL;DR
Assuming the rest of your braking system is in good shape:
The parking brake pedal adjustment is critical to the rear brakes working in a safe fashion.
You can have *working* parking brake cables that are so stiff that they make the drums very very slow to react to pedal inputs and it creates the same problem.
New cables are less than $20/ea.
 

franklin2

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I do not agree. Yes, the parking brake adjustment can affect the brake adjustment, but it shouldn't. The parking brake cables should have slack in them with the parking brake pedal up, and then the star adjusters for the brakes should be adjusted. THEN the parking brake should be operated, and if it needs adjustment, do it then.
That is a fairly stiff spring on the end of the parking brake cables, so you can have some tension on the cables going down the side of the frame, without affecting the regular brake application. But yes, adjust them too tight and they will start messing with your regular star wheel adjustment.

That is one way to know when the rear brakes need adjusting by hand; Besides the brake pedal getting a little low, the parking brake pedal will also have more travel.
 

The_Josh_Bear

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I do not agree. Yes, the parking brake adjustment can affect the brake adjustment, but it shouldn't. The parking brake cables should have slack in them with the parking brake pedal up, and then the star adjusters for the brakes should be adjusted. THEN the parking brake should be operated, and if it needs adjustment, do it then.
That is a fairly stiff spring on the end of the parking brake cables, so you can have some tension on the cables going down the side of the frame, without affecting the regular brake application. But yes, adjust them too tight and they will start messing with your regular star wheel adjustment.

That is one way to know when the rear brakes need adjusting by hand; Besides the brake pedal getting a little low, the parking brake pedal will also have more travel.
I think we DO agree. I'm not saying the parking brake *should* affect braking, just that it *can*. And you can keep it from interfering by having nice and slick new cables that release properly-- like you said, to have slack. So yes to slack with the parking brake released! I'm just saying that old ones for whatever reason were interfering with the mechanism working right.

To be extra clear I over-tightened the auto-adjusters before changing cables, in an effort to get better braking. All I did was **** myself off locking up one tire or the other. Changed cables-- perfectly balanced braking without being too tight. And the parking feature works like a dream too, can hold my pickup on a serious hill easily, like it should.
 

ROCK HARVEY

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Is the parking brake pedal adjustment somewhere on the pedal mechanism itself, or do you mean that tensioner thing along the frame where the two rear cables meet and attach to the front cable?

I just replaced my rear axle and installed all new brake parts while I was at it, including parking brake cables. That tensioner/junction thing along the frame was rusted solid, so the parking brakes aren’t hooked up until the new one arrives. I’m hoping I’ll be as happy with my brakes as you are once everything’s hooked up!
 

franklin2

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Yes, the parking brake cables sticking are a problem Ford trucks have had at least since the 1980 model. I had a 1980 f150 and had to replace the cables on it, then later I got this 1989 and had to replace the cables on it also.

If any of you are out and about and suddenly have this problem, what you can do is take some vise grips and put them on the cable about 1/2 inch before they go into the sheath,, and then hit the vise grips on the side with a hammer to drive the cable back up in the sleeve. That will get you home, just make sure you do not touch the parking brake till you get new cables.
 

The_Josh_Bear

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Is the parking brake pedal adjustment somewhere on the pedal mechanism itself, or do you mean that tensioner thing along the frame where the two rear cables meet and attach to the front cable?

I just replaced my rear axle and installed all new brake parts while I was at it, including parking brake cables. That tensioner/junction thing along the frame was rusted solid, so the parking brakes aren’t hooked up until the new one arrives. I’m hoping I’ll be as happy with my brakes as you are once everything’s hooked up!
Tensioner thing along the frame rail.

Sounds like you've got yours all sorted! For future readers, I used this from Amazon. I found lots that were way more expensive but this worked really well and was $19.
Tensioner on Amazon
 

Black dawg

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What I see a lot of the time, is self adjusters not keeping up, or people not adjusting the shoes before adjusting the parking brake cables. The top of the shoe needs to be against the stop, without the parking brake lever holding it off of it.
 

SLC97SR5

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@Black dawg
Do you have a pic of the stop that you're referring to?
What I see a lot of the time, is self adjusters not keeping up, or people not adjusting the shoes before adjusting the parking brake cables. The top of the shoe needs to be against the stop, without the parking brake lever holding it off of it.

I recently replaced my shoes, wheel cylinders and the DS park brake cable and my shoes continue to over tighten.
What did I do wrong?

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u2slow

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On every 87-97ish ford I've had, I make a point of pulling the parking brake cable out of that terrible S-bend clamping the factory does by the fwd spring hanger. That's at least half the friction on the system right there.
 

Black dawg

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@Black dawg
Do you have a pic of the stop that you're referring to?


I recently replaced my shoes, wheel cylinders and the DS park brake cable and my shoes continue to over tighten.
What did I do wrong?

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No picture of the stop. It is just the round part that sticks out at the top of the backing plate, that the shoes seat against. Should be able to remove and install parking brake lever without having to hold top of shoes apart.
 

franklin2

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Most of the time the auto adjusters don't work. That is not on just Fords but other brands also. Once in while you do get one that does overdo it all the time. That is when that cable that pulls on the auto adjuster leaves the scene.

You can probably get by with adjusting them by hand once a year. You will know you need to adjust them when the pedal travel gets a little excessive and annoying.
 

ROCK HARVEY

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I think you have your shoes mixed up. When I did mine, the top of both the front and rear shoes had an extra layer welded/riveted to the “frame” of the shoe as reinforcement, and the extra part faces outward when they were installed. If you install a shoe backward, or install a rear shoe on the front or something, the reinforcement piece will face inward. I know the motorcraft brand shoes have “this side out” stamped on them, but my off-brand ones didn’t.

Look at this picture, and compare the part I circled to the picture you posted:
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