... can this just be an unfortunate coincidence or is something else up?

Problems first started after towing a light trailer. When I put the truck in reverse the LEFT rear drum was binding and you could smell the burning shoe. I took it apart, cleaned everything and put it back. It seemed ok till I got on the highway and I got this terrible vibration that originated from the back. Parking brake made it way worse, but then the front shook hard too when I hit the primary brake pedal.? Took it a part again and found that the wheel cylinder was leaking. Replaced cylinder, shoes and flushed ALL lines. All seemed well.

Drove it last night and no issues. When I got to my destination I could smell terrible burning brake smell. How could this be? I got out and now the FRONT left caliper was locked up and scorched my pads. Let it cool and drove home. Drove ok, but the truck pulled to the right when braking. Seemed strange. Thought it would pull left.? Got home and the left caliper seemed fine. No smell, no heat. All the others seemed ok.

What gives? Is my left caliper suddenly ok? I know the pads are now junk, but should the calipers be replaced too? Seems strange to have so many issues at once w/ only 71k miles? My only thought is that when I flushed to system I unleased some crud that f'd everything up. Any suggestions?
I can get 2 calipers for $80 w/phenolic pistons and my pads replaced for nothing under warranty. I just don't want to start replacing things if something else is up.

 

It is recommended to put a spacer under the brake pedal (brick) when bleeding to keep the pistons in the master in the used secton of the cylinder to keep the crud and corrosion from doing harm.
Before replacing anything else make sure the e-brake cables are releasing fully and the pins and sliding parts ot the calipers are free from corrosion and properly lubed.

Try additional bleeding afterwards.

 

My granpa's chevy did the same thing. Found out it was a pinched brake line. It's worth a look-see. And good luck!

 

The front brake locked up on my truck also after flushing the lines. It's the same year. The symtoms are the same as elephant's post. Can I be something we missed while bleeding the brakes?

 

Just one side? the flush could have caused something to plug up. Crack the bleeder on the wheel that is dragging and see if it releases. Chances are it is a flex hose. Check the lines also like peacemaker mentioned.
Good luck and let us know.

 

I compressed my caliper and inspected everything. It has been working fine for ~ a week, but now I have another rear drum issue. Crazy!

 

yes, only the left side.

I took off the brake caliper and compressed the dual pistons. Then I put it back on and reseated pistons. I did this twice, there appeared to be no problems and no binding. Everything appeared normal. I drove 150 miles since doing this and no further problems so far. Maybe it binds when the brakes get hot or there was dirt in there that I freed up.

I will keep you posted. Elephant, what did you find with your problem?

 

All my problems 1st started w/ the left rear drum. I replaced everything but the hardware (looks like new) and the parking brake cable on both sides. Everything was working fine. My right rear started hanging up like the left originally did about a week later. I thought maybe it was something I did wrong that caused the new wheel cyclinder to leak, so I took it apart. Despite the drum being so hot that I had use leather gloves to remove it, the drum easily rotated and came off w/o me having to do so much as back off the adjusters. Inside, no leaks, everything looked and worked perfect. I even took the left off to compare. Both sides moved at the same rate and completely retracted. I cleaned the drum just in case, backed off the adjusters and put it back together. IT STILL HANGS UP!!!!! WTF!!! What is going on?????? I've replaced many drum brakes and never had a problem. Why is this one so bad!!!!!!

Could it be cheap *****ty shoe material? The left is fine.

 

To me it sounds like your emergency brake is sticking.

 

If it is, then why did my drum come off easily?

 

Nevermind. I didn't see the year of your truck. I know my 01 has a small drum brake behind the disk rotor (Mine has 4 wheel disk) that acts as an emergency brake. I don't think your truck has that, since you say you have rear drums. Maybe you have a bad rear axle bearing that causes your brakes to "shift" when you accelerate because of worn out rear axle bearings? Hell, I don't know. Just guessing here.

 

Elephant

Are the shoes on correctly? The longer lined shoe should be to the rear (secondary shoe) and the shorter lined shoe should be toward the front (primary shoe).

Just a thought on why the brakes could be hanging up

 

Good call srfd44, but i already looked into that. The are assembled as you have said.

Any other ideas??

 

Make sure you have both back drums adjusted so that they apply equal brake pressure to both brakes. There are star adjusters behind the flat-oval shaped grommets behind the rear hub. Chock your front tires with a couple pieces of wood or a few bricks or something. Put it in nuetral, and jack the rear end of your truck up. Turn one wheel at a time and make sure it will turn "almost" freely with very little resistance. The brakes should just barely be catching. It souldn't turn like it's on ball bearings, but the wheel shouldn't be hard to turn either. The wheel should turn "almost" freely. If they don't turn "almost" freely, they're adjusted too tight. Turn the aforementioned adjusters with a flat screwdiver until they loosen. I forget which way you turn the adjusters, it's been a long time... I think up is to tighten and down is to loosen. They make a special tool for this, but a straight flat scewdriver always worked for me. Let me know how it works out. Use jackstands if you have them for saftey.

 

Thanks peacemaker.

I've done that already and still had problems, but I'm going to try to back it off even more. I don't know what else to do other than replace the shoes w/ better quality.