Rear left drum gets very hot, seems to drag

[jettech79]

2002 Jeep Liberty 4x4 V6, Left drum is getting extremely hot to the touch, right drum is warm just by driving a few miles using normal braking procedures, replaced both wheels brake shoes, drums, all associated hardware (spings, retainers, adjusters, adjusters cable), adjusted brakes properly as per the Jeep factory manual, wheel rotates freely by hand, shoes do not touch the inner drum unless brake pedal is pressed, lifted rear of vehicle, while in drive, right wheel turns freely, left wheel seems to be dragging, have to accelerate a considerable amount to get left side wheel to turn, wondering if problem is not brake related and its bearing or driveline related, I feel the vehicle is dragging considerably, I pay particular attention to mpg, at a steady 65mph on the way to work, I would get 22.6- 22.8, now Im getting in the 19, also feel when I release foot pedal, vehicle does not coast as fast as before would appreciate any help and suggestions offered. Thank you.

 

[tommudd]

Did you change the wheel cylinders as well ? Part of a complete brake job is to replace or rebuild them. If not one of them could be sticking when you pushed the pins back in
Did you bleed the brake system with new brake fluid?
Unless you have a locked rear diff both wheels would not spin the same or not at all .
Winter gas can knock down mileage some as well, have you taken that into account?

 

[jettech79]

Tommudd, thanks for the reply. I have the cylinder on hand, will bleed the system today. Im also purchasing a new set of shoes, just to verify the ones I got are the correct ones. I did a big no-no, I don't remember if I compared the old oem shoes to the ones I purchased, I just know that the shorter ones goes facing the front of the vehicle, long ones facing back. One other thing I should mention, before I performed any work, I noticed the drum on drivers side drum was extremely hot, removed the drums, drivers side shoe was completely gone, no meat whatsoever, passenger side shoes had plenty of meat, well above rivet, so this might be a problem I had for awhile, just never realized. The biggest issue is the drag I feel in the vehicle. Its one of those things where I have been driving the vehicle for 12 years, I know every sound, and feel of the vehicle, and I feel the drag/resistance, it just wasn't there before. All of this happened in a period that had me engaging 4WD quite often, as it has snowed quite often in NJ for the last month or so, and where the temperature has dipped to single digits for a few weeks, Im just trying to determine if there's any correlation between all of this. I will keep you posted, again, thank you for your response.

 

[jettech79]

I finally found the problem. As I was ready to replace the wheel cylinder, I decided to compare the brake shoes once again with the ones that were previously installed, and they were different. The mounting platform is identical, but the position of the shoe material was completely in a different position, it was about 2 inches down from the originals, and when driven forward it caused the shoes to bind into the drum, but when I backed up into the driveway, it released the bind and allowed the wheel to spin freely. New drums, cylinders, shoes, hardware, bled system, brakes feel as good as the first day I purchased the vehicle. I purchased brake shoes from Autozone (duralast), hopefully they will reimburse me as I don't have the receipt or box. Such a simple fix, I fell for the rookiest mistake...COMPARE your parts going in with the ones coming out.

 

[Snail Farmer]

Glad you got it fixed. As for wheel cylinders, I always replace them when I do brakes. They're cheap and it only takes a couple minutes to replace them.

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