94 ranger 2wd 2.3 - abs and brake light on. i have brakes on all for corners.
the truck is experiencing resistance and a noise is coming from the rear of the truck. i suspect something in the differential. i jack up the rear end put it in to gear and the passenger wheel was spinning faster than driver side.

 

update-i havent open the cover yet. i will soon once i get a little insight. its up on stands and the drivers side is barely moving when i give it gas feels like its in a bind. i'm expecting to see loose bearing.

 

Reads like E-brake is stuck, could be rusted cable or bad slave.

Very rare to have differential problems with Rangers.

Get your AXLE code from the drivers door Sticker, then look here: Ford 7.5 & 8.8 Inch Axle Tag & Door Codes

To see what axle you have

 

backstory when this started happening i had no e-brake and i knew i had a wheel cylinder leaking. i'm carpenter by trade mechanic because i have to be. so sometime things get put off. Tuesday i went through the whole braking system and fixed everything. e-brake works now and it only does it while in gear and the wheel its doing it on had no e-brake.

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the sensor being bad doesnt make sense since it only happening at one wheel. there is only one hydraulic line running to the diff and then it splits to each wheel. if the sensor was sending a bad signal it would bind both wheels. but i do agree cheap sensor like $15.

 

did you fix the wheel cylinder? You mention e-brake working like it should but just for clarification.

Also, is truck a limited slip or open diff?

 

yes fixed the entire rear brake system and i believe limited slip though don't know at this point

 

when it stops raining i'm gonna take the drums off and see if it happens.

 

Look at the door label then at the link I posted above to see what axle you have.

 

axle code 86 open 7.5" 2750 3.73

still wet under my truck no reason to believe the axle is not factory

 

it seems to not do it w/ the drum off. so i believe the shoe is causing it to bind. i guess the next step is a short test drive w/ no drum. i starting to seriously suspect low gear oil is causing sensor malfunction like some suggested on another forum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm1p...ature=youtu.be

 

You will NOT have brakes with no drum on, you will need to plug that brake line or you will lose alot of fluid when you hit the brakes, pedal will just go to the floor.

 

i believe you maybe incorrect. the spring holds the shoe in place which which keeps the piston from coming out of the the wheel cylinder. my ol lady was pressing the brake w/ the drum off so i could see the brake shoes in action. no fluid loss. can't be worse then running w/ a known leaky wheel cylinder

 

another scenario i just thought of is the axle running out of round. causing the drum to rub against shoe. the weight of the tire on when it was on the jackstand would bind it up and the weight of the truck would bind it up on the ground. likely cause worn out outer axle bearing. will check for play in the morning.

 

Nope, not wrong, springs return the shoes after braking but without the drum the pistons will push themselves out of the slave, way way worse than a leaking slave or caliper, it's a wide open brake line

 

is there a reading i should get from this diff sensor

 

here are some videos

inside of drum drivers side what i noticed here that the shoe wasnt coming back to proper position


i forgot to take my phone cover off on these but y'all outta get it

with drum on
with out drum on

 

on the dog leg, adjust the shoes with the star adjuster. you also have a lot of metal shavings sitting around. when you got the brakes done, someone didnt know what they were doing. there shouldnt be metal shards in there.

 

those aren't metal shaving. what happen was the brake fluid from the leaky cylinder ate the coating off the shoes and is making everything shiny

 

temporary fix

i removed the drum on the drivers side and put a plug in the brake line block on top of the diff. no more dragging. i got brakes on 3 sides. i know be careful. i am, i nvr drive over the speed limit.

the abs and brake light are still on. the abs light doesnt bother me the brake light does. i believe its a sensor.

 

thats like wiping your *** with poison ivy.

 

fair enough but trucks gotta run. i am at loss what it is. considering i got good clear fluid pressure on all four corners. year old master cylinder and abs hydraulic unit. i out of answers at this point. make some $$$ over the weekend and tackle it next week. like i said the brake light on bothers me i gotta get it off.

 

here a little more backstory - before the brakelight came i was working at a guys house. i got done got in my truck and i had no fuel pressure. had a buddy take me home and took the ol lady's car in the morning to get the truck. it starts right up. got it back to the house and again no fuel pressure. that ended up be a dirty connection in the relay, fixed.

get in truck the next morning about to drive off and i notice the brakelight on. i dont drive it fingering its the leaky cylinder. i get the new cylinders that evening. next day or so i fix the rear brakes. light doesnt go off. so i go through the whole brake system making sure i got good pressure, no leaks and everything is working. now i'm where i'm at today. i may take a look at the schematics.

and no i don't do rear brakes everyday but 95% of the time (over the course of 20yrs+) if i can get it apart i can put it back together. and that goes for damn near anything.

 

the adjuster is all the way in. so what you're saying is open it up a bit and it will push the shoe up? i can see that possibly working.

i may look at the brakelight switch on the e-brake could be just stuck.

 

mine doesn't come all the way up after being released so pull up on pedal when you release it and see if light go's out

 

somethings i know and am beginning to believe.
#1 i for sure have brakes.
#2 i am seriously thinking its the e-brake switch that keeping the brakelight on.
#3 after 99offroadrngr mention the star adjuster i am beginning to believe that they gave me one for a 10" drum. why do i believe this because the other side all those parts were good so they got reused.