[Vwdiesel] The sad story continues..... Brake problems

[Craig Osborn]

You may all remember my story last week about the bad drum brake job and the
"cooked" wheel bearings.. IF NOT the story goes like this,

A few days ago, I heard a thumping noise coming from the rear passenger side
wheel of my '81 pickup.  Never having messed around with drum brakes, I went
to a franchise muffler/brake shop to have the noise investigated.  I was
informed that my brake shoe had broken into pieces.  I authorized a repair
that included brake shoe replacement on both sides, and a new wheel cylinder
on the passenger side (because the bleeder screw was broken off).  I
additionally requested a brake system flush (power bleed) since I have only
owned this vehicle for around 10,000 miles of it's total 200,000 miles and I
was not sure how old was the brake fluid.

 

I paid the bill and proceeded to drive the 50 mile commute to work the next
day and immediately noticed a drag that felt like the brakes were on all of
the time.  I also felt a vibration and heard a faint whining noise.  Upon
arriving at work, I felt the wheel and noticed that the wheel was very hot
on the driver's side rear, but not on the passenger side rear.  It didn't
seem so bad as to prohibit driving, so I elected to drive the 50 miles home.
When I arrived at home, I noticed smoke coming from the "hot" wheel, that I
assumed was bearing grease burning off or brake shoes smoking.  I
immediately took the car back to the shop.  They put it on the lift and
announced that the bearing was "fried", but that there was nothing wrong
with the brake job that they had done.  He said that the mechanic may have
over-tightened the wheel bearing and caused the problem so he agreed to
replace the outer bearing.  He said the inner bearing/race was OK. He also
said he "backed off" the nut so as to loosen the pressure on both back
wheels so the problem wouldn't reoccur.  I drove about two miles home and
felt the same drag and noticed the wheel smoking again.  I took it back to
the shop and they said they will look at it tomorrow.

 

NEW INFO STARTS HERE ...

After a bit of arguing with the shop manager he agreed to replace all the
bearings.  When I called him later that day to see how the job was
progressing, he said that he discovered a problem with the brake hardware
and that he replaced all of the springs with yet another new set.  He said
that this was the source of my brake overheating problems.  He also said
that after disassembling the drum and bearings that he cleaned and inspected
all of the bearings and found that only the outer ones were damaged.  He
said that there would be no benefit to replacing all of the races and
bearings.  I agreed to this.  When I picked up the truck he said that the
wheel was spinning freely and that he test drove it for about 5 miles and
everything was fine.  He did not charge me for anything.

When I drove it home, I immediately noticed a bearing whine coming from the
rear.  The brakes did seem to be fixed.  I thought - That's it I'm done with
this shop! - I will renew the bearings myself.  Today, I did renew the inner
and outer bearings/races/oil seal on both rear wheels.  I took it for a test
drive and it was very quiet.  I thought that everything was great until I
went about 20 miles then I noticed a vibration coming from the rear wheels.
I pulled over and found the driver's side rear wheel was smoking and very
hot to the touch.  I let it cool a while and drove home very slowly.

I need some help to try to figure out my next move!

What would make one drum brake self adjust to the point of engagement while
the other doesn't?  Should I try adjusting (loosening) the hand brake cable
as it seems to engage after one click upwards?  Could the fact that there is
a new wheel cylinder on the trouble free side and an old one on the side
that is giving me trouble cause shoe engagement?  Does the self adjusting
wedge hardware ever go "bad"?  What happens if I disconnect the self
adjusting spring?

Any other suggestions welcome.  

Craig