Brakes Hot

[old-school]

Guys,

I just had a guy come over and help me swap my 4:10 gears to 3:55

Anyway, after the swap, we went for a very short test drive and when we came back the right rear was billowing smoke and the drum was red hot! The driver side rear was hot as well but not smoking or nearly as hot as the right side. We pulled the right tire and drum back off and the only thing he could see was that the emergency cable was not in it's slot guide. Everything else looked fine to him. I took it on a short drive again and this time it came back hot but not as hot. I let it completely cool and just drove it again and the right rear got pretty hot again and i could smell it when i got home and the drum was too hot to touch.

I'm not familiar at all with drum brakes but what could have happened by just pulling the drums off to pull the axels for the gear change?

[GoodysGotaCuda]

id make sure something wasn't tweaked and that the axle is torqued down nice and square. does the drum slide on and off easy?

[old-school]

The brakes are not tweaked and the axel is nice and square. The drum slides on relatively easy. What now?

[Chryco Psycho]

make sure the park brake lever is fully retracted after reconnecting it to the lever , the shoes should sit evenly & on the top pin

[Aussie Challenger]

  As CP said but also make sure that the outer cable didn't get hooked up on the spring or where it mounts at the front. It should be free to move when the rear axle moves up and down without binding, also have a look where you mounted the jack stands to make sure you didn't squash the cable.

[old-school]

Well,

Here's the scoop now. Couldn't see anything wrong at all with the brakes so i took it for another spin and came back with the same results. Right drum red hot and left drum hot. This time however when i pulled the wheels off, both axels were loose with as much as a quarter inch or slightly more lateral play and the axel nut still in place held by the retainer lock by the axel bolt. I called the guy back over that helped me and he said that the nut was stripped and he could no longer take the lateral play out of the axels.

So he had a shorter axel at home with the same diameter nut on it so i took both axels to a shop and they are going to try to get my old nut off and then use his nut off of his axel to put on my axel using my same bearings which look new. Obviously with the axels backing off like they did, this was probably causing the problem inside the drum. At least i hope so.

By the way, i read on a thread somewhere where someone mentioned that when you reinstall the axels that your supposed to use a hammer on the right axel with the nut to seat it? Did i read that right? Well my friend had never heard of that and said that tighting the nut up to take out the lateral play does that. Thoughts on my overall situation?

[Chryco Psycho]

the brgs should bve packed with grease so yes I hit the axle with a hakmmer to seat the brg it i seasier on the threads
 you will need to cut the old brg & retainer off the axle to save the adjuster palte

[old-school]

I just got a call from the shop and the adjuster plate from his old axel that i wanted to use isn't any good. The guy at the shop says the threads on it aren't any good either. Where can i order this adjuster plate new to put on my axel?

[Chryco Psycho]

it is discontinued , so you have the choice of green brgs or the wrecker

[old-school]

What are green bearings and how are they installed and how do they eliminate the threaded adjuster? Thanks

[Chryco Psycho]

they are a ball brg not a tapered roller , you just press them into place & a retainer behind them & they cannot move side to side so no adjuster needed , however you do need to drop the pumpkin & remove the center spacer block to get the axles to fit so it i snot an easy fix

[old-school]

Thanks for all of the info. I have found a threaded adjuster so when it gets here in a couple of days, hopefully this gear change will be behind me and the drums do not get hot. I'm assuming the axel having all of that play caused the drums to get hot.

[old-school]

When the threaded adjuster gets here i have a question. When i tighten it down to where there is no lateral play in the axels, is that how much i tighten it or should there be a minimal amount of play? Tighten it to where there is no play and then back off a little or what? Help please

[Chryco Psycho]

yes without the adjuster tight the axles will nto center in the drum so that is the cause
 you need to have .008-.018 end play , back the adjuster off 2 teeth from tight & you will be close

[old-school]

Thanks Psycho!