Hello Ranger fans,
I have recently purchased my first Ranger - a one owner 2009 XLT 4x4 with the 4.0L. The previous owner wasn't much on doing maintenance so I have been going through it and giving everything a look.I replaced the front rotors and pads without any issues but the rear brakes have me puzzled. I replaced the shoes, hardware kits, drums, wheel cylinders (lines were rusted in so I replaced them as well) and e-brake cables. After all of that the right drum heats up and gets very hot. I rechecked the adjustment, checked the e-cables and up on the jack stands everything works fine. There was a fair bit of rust on the backing plate and the pin seemed worn so I thought that might be causing a shoe to **** on return so I replaced the backing plate. I still have the same issue - only the right drum gets hot. The brakes bleed just fine with equal flow from both sides and it is a single line from the front which splits at a tee connector so I can't see how it could be an ABS issue. I'm at wits end here and could use some help, has anyone run into something like this before?
Thanks,
Bob

 

Welcome to the forum

No, not a common issue

When its up on jack stands, in neutral, have you applied the brakes a few times(engine running) and then tried spinning that wheel to see if its rubbing?
Could be shoes are too loose
Adjust the shoes out until wheel can't be turned then back it off a 1/2 turn or so, wheel should spin but might rub a bit, this centers the shoes in the drum

I put lithium grease on the flat spots where shoes slide on the back plate but not really needed

 

Hi Ron,

I did put some silicone brake grease on the pads and the pin. I'll get it back up on the stands tomorrow and try adjusting using that method. Generally in the past I have done them one side at a time to (drum off on the opposite wheel) to get a true feel for the adjustment. But it's also been some 20 odd years since I've had to deal with drum brakes on a regular basis so the "rust" maybe a little with me.

 

You can just hold out the Parking brake release handle and pump the Parking brake pedal until it feels tight, that will adjust both sides to correct position

 

 

Tcarter: Aside from the shoe cocking when the worn backing plate was in use everything was working properly, The crossbar even had a small gap by the spring between the bar and the shoe so the e-brake lever and cables were not in play.

RonD: A combination of your 2 methods seems to have resolved the heat up issue. Pumping the parking bake yielded a click from the left side so I then tightened the adjusters and backed them out about a half turn and that did the trick. Thank you for the assistance!

 

Good work

Thanks for the update

 

I thought you needed to drive forward and back hitting the brakes hard to self adjust the shoes... Or are you saying do the parking brake thing to center the shoes to manually adjust them then do the forward and back?

 

Either works to adjust brake shoes and Parking brakes
Backing up and pressing down main brake pedal will cause self adjuster to push down on the Star Wheel, if it can move then it will and move shoes closer to drums
Each time you use the Parking brake it does the same thing

People with Automatics that park on the street, rarely back up or use Parking brake, lol
They will often complain that rear brakes lock up or don't work well, or brake pedal seems to go down lower now
That's because rear shoes are too far away from the drums because they are not adjusted during daily driving

Pumping the Parking brake pedal will adjust them, easier than backing up hitting the brake then backing up and hitting the brake, ect..............
You don't have to go forward after backing up, it only adjusts when drum is rotating backwards and pulls shoes in that direction when you stop


And just a heads up since winter is here
Parking brake cables can get water inside, and water freezes
So not to unusual to use Parking brake when you get home and then have it NOT release in the morning, cables are frozen inside the sheath so can't move, can't release
Check the front of rear cables to make sure seal around the bare cable is OK, so no water can get in, if it's worn out try spraying lube inside to displace any water that may have gotten in

The cable from the pedal down to the frame usually can't get enough water inside to matter, its the rear cables that can freeze