# Shoe brake stiff/binds



## papereater (Sep 16, 2016)

People,

1987 Sunbird GT, rear brake shoe binds when I jack up car and turn the wheel by hand. The wheel turns nicely until it hits that stiff spot, then binds and stops, until i force the wheel by hand to turn once more to that spot where it starts to freely turn. In other words, imagine a clock, whenever the wheel hits say, 12 oclock, it is stiff to turn until it turns past say, 2 oclock, then frees up again. 

I removed the wheel, then the drum , and even loosened up the dial wheel thingy. No luck. Advice appreciated.


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## Nealtw (Jun 22, 2017)

Rust on the disc or drum??


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## Rough Rooster (Feb 7, 2015)

Out of round drum most likely. Might be fixed by having drum turned. (machined)


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## papereater (Sep 16, 2016)

Wow, never thought of that! I did the shoes recently, but the drums are Original. 32 years old. Probably cheaper nowasays to just buy new, just like disc brake rotors. Thanks, people.


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## papereater (Sep 16, 2016)

Installed the new brake drums, and they are worse- the drums drag worse than the old/originals. Probably the shoes. Maybe I should not worry too much. I mean, could I just drive the car for say, a month and if a small section of shoes are rubbing on the drum area, wont the shoe wear down just on that spot and create a new "reset"? Any harm in that? The shows are not that old, maybe 3-4 years. 

I hate to put the old/originals back on. Not worth returning the drums as they are so cheap. Shipping costs more.


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## ZTMAN (Feb 19, 2015)

Don't know much about brake jobs, but I do like to be able to stop my vehicles. Brake shoes are cheap. I think I would invest a few dollars to get them to work properly


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

I almost mentioned this a week ago or whenever it was, then figured the problem was definitely the drums when you said how old they were, but I'd go back and look at the shoes, and not necessarily the shoes themselves, but the areas on the backing plate that the sides of the shoes ride against. I don't necessarily recall seeing a lot of them, but enough that I can still remember it, and it happened to be mostly GM products as best as I can recall, that those areas would wear down and guys would have to either replace the backing plates or build them up with weld and grind them flat. And of course they wouldn't wear flat, and would angle out slightly so that the springs wouldn't be able to pull them all the way in once the pedal was pressed the first time. It might not be the easiest to measure, may want to make a trammel with a stick and a couple of nails in it, but I would start by pulling the problem drum(s) off, and see how concentric the perimeter of the shoes are to the center of the axle. Once that was done, I would look at the shoes to see where they ride against the backing plate so that I could inspect those areas more closely. Did you replace the hardware when you did the shoess? And double check that the springs and everything are oriented correctly?


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## DexterII (Jul 14, 2010)

Not trying to spend your money, but you may want to have those new drums turned too. I know, they're new, BUT... it's not uncommon to have out of round drums or something other than flat and parallel rotors straight out of the box. Not to mention that they were trying to get all of the mileage they could out of vehicles in those days, and one of the big ticket items was to reduce weight, so the original drums did not have anything extra to start with, and you can bet that nobody's added any; just copied what was there originally.


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## Rough Rooster (Feb 7, 2015)

60 years experience repairing autos guides my suggestions on this forum.
ASE Certified Master Auto Tech -- Master Engine Machinist -- Medium and Heavy Truck Tech

Your "new" rotors most likely came from China or Mexico, possibly even Brazil or Thailand. Quality control is not good from these places. Turning the drums, even new ones was always part of my brake jobs.
Highly recommended and actually necessary for good results.


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## papereater (Sep 16, 2016)

Thanks, people. I didnt know. Some feedback- the brakes do stop when pedal depressed. Im not going to crash. But yes, something is not 100% factory down there. yes, I did replace all components when I did redo the shoes. And I did apply grease dabs behind the shoe "hinges". So I will wash all down with brake cleaner, and inspect further, maybe redo the whole thing again. Thanks, people.


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## raylo32 (Nov 25, 2006)

It used to be a thing to arc brake shoes to the drums... meaning that they were ground as necessary to be concentric with the circle formed by the drum. Not sure if anyone still provides that service. Maybe if you get a matched set of drums and shoes from the same manufacturer maybe that step has already been done.


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## papereater (Sep 16, 2016)

After spending much time on these shoe brakes I decided to put back on my original drums. Wheels turned better, believe it or not. Sheesh. Now I got 2 new drums on the shelf. Not worth returning. They bind up tight when wheel is put on and lug nuts torqued. I yanked them and put them aside. Anyway, I thank those here who helped me figure this all out.


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