What! AGAIN? I don't even want to look...

[OR VietVet]

I really don't think you are going to find a problem in the park brake area, again IMO.

 

[YukonRog]

Well here's the complaint. My wife claims there's a grunting noise that sounds like it comes from the right rear wheel. Usually after she drives up and down a long winding road with several sharp turns and stops. The way down has a long downhill stretch and I'm sure she rides the brakes on the way down. Then she says it feels like "something" is dragging and holding it back. Enough so the mileage noticeably suffers. She was pulling out of the driveway one day and yelled "you hear that?" What I heard sounded like the brakes being barely applied after the discs have gotten dirty or rusty. Basically, brake groan. I can't duplicate it. But like I mentioned, I can't hear anything! Brake pads, rotors, and calipers all appear in good shape. I even just serviced the caliper guide pins. Cleaned them all up and relubed them with silicone brake grease. I can force the calipers in without a great deal of pressure too. I don't think I have a choice but to look into the parking brake shoes again.

 

[OR VietVet]

I am not saying not to look, I was going to say, make sure you look no matter what my guess is. Pics if can

 

[YukonRog]

I am not saying not to look, I was going to say, make sure you look no matter what my guess is. Pics if can

I'll look. And take pics. What should I set the shoes at in comparison to the drum? I've watched a lot of videos where they just adjust them to where they partially drag. To me now it seems they're getting hot and dragging.

 

[OR VietVet]

I would set it for a light drag and see where it goes if you then park on a grade and see if will hold solidly in neutral. You may have to adjust to a sweet spot but it is what it is.

 

[YukonRog]

I would set it for a light drag and see where it goes if you then park on a grade and see if will hold solidly in neutral. You may have to adjust to a sweet spot but it is what it is.

Yeah "it is" a bad design. LOL!
But I got one of those resetting tools. Figured I give that a try. What feels like a light drag to one person is different to another. It holds on a hill now but it may be tight enough to drag and heat everything up

 

[YukonRog]

Update. Spent a couple hours this morning pulling the rear wheels and brake assemblies off. Everything looks fine. The only thing I could comment on is the rotors and tophat drums looked a little heat glazed. I expected to find the new upgraded hold down clips broken or something. But nothing. I did use my new brake resetting tool though and I gotta say I liked it. It took all the guess work out. I set the brake shoes about 1/16" under the size of the drum. It all works fine. The only thing I can think is she's hearing brake groan when they are barely applied. But she's been driving this since 2005 so you'd think she'd know all the little quirks by now!

 

[OR VietVet]

Yea, I was just not thinking you were going to find anything major. Glad it was still all together. Any time you pull down brakes like that, if you see a glaze or heat marks you can use sand paper and even better if you have something that would spin it, and clean up those surfaces. Make doubly sure that you use brake clean and very clean rags/towels to wipe clean several times to remove the little tiny bits of metal that is removed by the sandpaper. That stuff will imbed in the friction material and ruin them.

 

[YukonRog]

Yea, I was just not thinking you were going to find anything major. Glad it was still all together. Any time you pull down brakes like that, if you see a glaze or heat marks you can use sand paper and even better if you have something that would spin it, and clean up those surfaces. Make doubly sure that you use brake clean and very clean rags/towels to wipe clean several times to remove the little tiny bits of metal that is removed by the sandpaper. That stuff will imbed in the friction material and ruin them.

I have small disc that I can attach any kind of abrasive to and I use that in a drill so it makes kind of a swirl mark. And O'Reilly's sells the least expensive brake cleaner. I always buy several cans at a time. And my German Shorthaired Pointer is great for providing me household bath towels for the shop. For some reason she thinks every towel needs a tug of war. LOL!

 

[OR VietVet]

I have small disc that I can attach any kind of abrasive to and I use that in a drill so it makes kind of a swirl mark. And O'Reilly's sells the least expensive brake cleaner. I always buy several cans at a time. And my German Shorthaired Pointer is great for providing me household bath towels for the shop. For some reason she thinks every towel needs a tug of war. LOL!

When I was running shops I had to tell several techs to make sure they clean those freshly turned rotors/drums with brake clean and clean rags. I don't even install new rotors without a swirl finish and a thorough cleaning. I also scuff the friction material, very very lightly, and again clean with brake clean. Scuffed/cleaned surfaces, IMO, seat better when you do the first road test.