Front left drum brake squealing / pulling to left.

jmbass98 · Oct 25, 2020

Just had complete drum, cylinder, and shoe replacement. Now the front left drum brake squeals when braking (even at low speeds, slow push on the pedal) and the steering wheel will force to the left. Before I took it back to the shop (where they said they "adjusted the brakes"), if I put the brake pedal to the floor (again at low speeds), the tire would skid.

Here is a video of the sound (took it in an empty lot):

Thoughts on what might be going on? Brake fluid level is good.

Edit: This brake job is a little over a week old.

slimt · Oct 25, 2020

sounds like a glazed shoe.. and a warped /out of round drum.

dadsbee · Oct 25, 2020

I had a right pull issue on my Bee and found one spot on the shoe was scuffing and no other wear. One of the problems with repro **** and not OE asbestos shoes linings. Slamming on brakes, adjusting for similar drag and I still had the issue. I knew one drum was in spec after turning and one was almost at limits for max diameter. I swapped drum/hubs side to side, did a couple of panic stops and she brakes as straight as an arrow.

Don Frelier · Oct 25, 2020

The brake pedal should never go to the floor?
The squeel sounds like metal to metal.

jmbass98 · Oct 25, 2020

slimt said:
sounds like a glazed shoe.. and a warped /out of round drum.

Getting a little pissed off, because they just did a full brake job... and this will be my second time taking it back to have it looked at. After it taking almost a week and a half the first time to have the work done.

1 Wild R/T · Oct 25, 2020

jmbass98 said:
Getting a little pissed off, because they just did a full brake job... and this will be my second time taking it back to have it looked at. After it taking almost a week and a half the first time to have the work done.

Drum Brakes are kinda like carburetors... "Mechanics" today have probably never seen/dealt with them.... Trust me, they hate working on your car cause they have no idea of the idiosyncrasies of drum brakes...

Hell, you can't arc brake shoes anymore... That stopped in the 70's...

As was mentioned your LF drum appears out of round, Assuming the drum was turned it probably wasn't mounted on the lathe properly... Chances are the drum is a throw away & new drums aren't on the shelf at Auto Zone...

dadsbee · Oct 25, 2020

jmbass98 said:
Getting a little pissed off, because they just did a full brake job... and this will be my second time taking it back to have it looked at. After it taking almost a week and a half the first time to have the work done.

Break out a FSM and work on your own stuff, or the expense will never end. As I noted above, try swapping the entire brake/hub/bearing assembly to the opposite sides, reset the brake shoes so they are just "scuffing". Go out, look in the mirror and ride the brakes for a bit while holding some throttle. Let them cool off again and then go somewhere and panic stop. See what the results are..

turbine68rt · Oct 25, 2020

Agree with wild r/t. I'd also be pulling the wheels to check equal star wheel adjustment as well as any contamination on the shoe surface.

oldkimmer · Oct 25, 2020

Possibly they put the shoes on in the wrong position. Heck, I’ve see both short shoes on 1 side and both long shoes on the other side. I agree the drum is outta round. They are probably lost working on ur car. Kim

dadsbee · Oct 25, 2020

Short shoe forward!

oldkimmer · Oct 25, 2020

Hopefully they put a new combi spring kit in it. Kim

jmbass98 · Oct 26, 2020

How simple is this for me to fix? Money isn't necessarily an issue, though I'd like to not spend a ton. I have the shop manual and a good set of tools. Just no experience doing this kind of thing.

Ranger16 · Oct 26, 2020

jmbass98 said:
Getting a little pissed off, because they just did a full brake job... and this will be my second time taking it back to have it looked at. After it taking almost a week and a half the first time to have the work done.

They where probably reading manuals and watching Youube to learn how to do a brake job on drum brakes.

jmbass98 said:
if I put the brake pedal to the floor (again at low speeds), the tire would skid.

I think they are simply misadjusted.

Rusty 72 · Nov 1, 2020

This isn't a hard job. Pull the wheel and have a look. I imagine when you pull the drum off there is gonna be a lot of black dust in there from the shoe wearing down. Clean all that out and then re install the drum/wheel. You should be able to spin the wheel by hand. If you spin it and it doesn't spin at least one revolution its not adjusted correctly. If it spins to freely it also isn't adjusted correctly.
You will need to loosen the nut on the spindle and remove the bearing in order to remove the drum. (In case you aren't aware)

Good luck!

Front left drum brake squealing / pulling to left.

jmbass98

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slimt

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dadsbee

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Don Frelier

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jmbass98

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1 Wild R/T

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dadsbee

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turbine68rt

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oldkimmer

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dadsbee

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oldkimmer

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jmbass98

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Ranger16

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Rusty 72

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