A friends complaint: brakes are not great

[Gsmblue]

My friend has a 1987 F350 6.9 IDI. He was complaining his brakes were underwhelming and there was some oil on the rear passenger hub.

He hauls a 3 horse gooseneck with this truck.

As I am on “vacation” I said i could look at it for/with him. Oh boy do I regret that! 10 hours 4 trips to the auto stores and i finally got him back on the road.

This is a pic of what was supposed to be the good side..

Ended up doing bearings, seals and brake pads on the rear. I told him to order new drums ASAP and get those on..

I have urged him to do the front axle ASAP. But not on my vacation time!! Kidding, he is a great friend and I will help him.

I now know how to tackle a 10.25 rear end and my friend will be much safer taking his wife and horses camping this weekend.

[ArdWrknTrk]

That view is not entirely new to me. 🤮

Surprised they hadn't noticed the wet backing plate long before it got to that.

At least it wasn't the pinion seal!

[Rembrant]

That's one way to contain all of that nasty brake dust I'm always so concerned about when pulling drums LOL.

You're a darn good friend I would say. Well done.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Wow! What a good friend!

I think I kinda know how those brakes felt from two experiences. My father bought a late 50's Chevy pickup with a hot small block in it and a 4 speed auto tranny. That thing would surprise a lot of people at the stoplights, but it stopped horribly. When we pulled the rear drums we found the PO had packed them full of grease to keep the parking brake mechanism from rattling as it wasn't even hooked up.

But that grease had migrated to the shoes and we really didn't have brakes back there. So if a front-braked pickup w/o a trailer was that bad I don't want to imagine what one with a horse trailer behind it was like.

[Gsmblue]

Wow! What a good friend!

I think I kinda know how those brakes felt from two experiences. My father bought a late 50's Chevy pickup with a hot small block in it and a 4 speed auto tranny. That thing would surprise a lot of people at the stoplights, but it stopped horribly. When we pulled the rear drums we found the PO had packed them full of grease to keep the parking brake mechanism from rattling as it wasn't even hooked up.

But that grease had migrated to the shoes and we really didn't have brakes back there. So if a front-braked pickup w/o a trailer was that bad I don't want to imagine what one with a horse trailer behind it was like.

Those drum brakes are such a pain. The springs are a nightmare.

But we got it all sorted out and he is in a much safer vehicle now!

[Gary Lewis]

Those drum brakes are such a pain. The springs are a nightmare.

But we got it all sorted out and he is in a much safer vehicle now!

Does his truck have the load adjuster on it? The one on Big Blue wasn't operating correctly and the rear brakes weren't being applied very strongly. Even with a loaded trailer on I could lock the front brakes and not the rear.

I took the adjuster out and it made a big difference in the braking. Now I can lock all four.

[85lebaront2]

Does his truck have the load adjuster on it? The one on Big Blue wasn't operating correctly and the rear brakes weren't being applied very strongly. Even with a loaded trailer on I could lock the front brakes and not the rear.

I took the adjuster out and it made a big difference in the braking. Now I can lock all four.

Considering all the other things did, I'll bet he violated the warnings regarding taking the arm off the load sensing valve. If so, I am pretty sure he didn't have the setting gauge.

That's why when I swapped rear axles in Darth, I took the bracket off the axle and swung everything up, out of the way until the "new" axle was in place, then re-attached the bracket.

[Gsmblue]

Considering all the other things did, I'll bet he violated the warnings regarding taking the arm off the load sensing valve. If so, I am pretty sure he didn't have the setting gauge.

That's why when I swapped rear axles in Darth, I took the bracket off the axle and swung everything up, out of the way until the "new" axle was in place, then re-attached the bracket.

I don’t know what the load adjuster is or where it is.

The rears do lock up, we did some late night brake tests.

The parking brake works now. My friend has had this truck for 4 years and it has never worked before.

[AmericanSavage]

I don’t know what the load adjuster is or where it is.

The rears do lock up, we did some late night brake tests.

The parking brake works now. My friend has had this truck for 4 years and it has never worked before.

What a great job. Mine on one side looked like that but not as bad.

As I noted on my thread, (my axle is a float) but I redid the hubs and bearings, and new seals. And new parking brake cables.

After that, my rear brakes locked up for a time, and have now settled, and have not locked up in months.

Cheers!

[Gary Lewis]

I don’t know what the load adjuster is or where it is.

The rears do lock up, we did some late night brake tests.

The parking brake works now. My friend has had this truck for 4 years and it has never worked before.

If the rear brakes are locking up then maybe the "brake load proportioning valve" is working properly. It is designed to vary the amount of pressure going to the rear brakes based on the load in the truck, as determined by the distance from the axle to the frame.