01 Windstar rear brakes

[PFA]

Hello
First post...been a lurker for a while..

I have an 01 Windstar that the rear drum brakes started grinding. I pulled the side off that sounded bad and there is plenty of shoe left....nothing grinding. This has happened before but with a need for new shoes. Now, I can't figure out what the grinding is...
Strange part is, it doesn't happen consistantly. What could it be??

Thanks

[tempfixit]

Originally Posted by PFA

Hello
First post...been a lurker for a while..

I have an 01 Windstar that the rear drum brakes started grinding. I pulled the side off that sounded bad and there is plenty of shoe left....nothing grinding. This has happened before but with a need for new shoes. Now, I can't figure out what the grinding is...
Strange part is, it doesn't happen consistantly. What could it be??

Thanks

Welcome to the forum.

Have you checked the wheel bearings????

[northern piper]

a couple of things to check. First, is there anything within the drum that might have got caught between the shoe and the drum? I've had crap kicked in or fallen off within the drum that makes a racket. Second, have the shoes had the braking material detach (delaminate) from the structure of the shoe? I've had the shoe material break loose as some shoes are glued not rivited.

Check these 2 things, in addition to the previous bearing suggestion.

[PFA]

Thanks for the welcome.

I spun the wheel hub when I had drum off. I didn't hear any grinding at all. I found nothing loose or falling off inside the area.
I checked both linings. All looked well. I blew it off with an air hose...nothing really came out of it.
I am just lost as to what is happening....unless it's the bearing while under load...with weight on it. But it comes and goes.

[tempfixit]

Originally Posted by PFA

Thanks for the welcome.

I spun the wheel hub when I had drum off. I didn't hear any grinding at all. I found nothing loose or falling off inside the area.
I checked both linings. All looked well. I blew it off with an air hose...nothing really came out of it.
I am just lost as to what is happening....unless it's the bearing while under load...with weight on it. But it comes and goes.

When you installed new brake shoes did you also have the drums turned??? Take a look to see if there are any shiny spots on the backing plate from drum rubbing. When you have the tire and all on try checking for movement of the bearing and spin the wheel to see if you can feel any rubbing points. Does it do this just when braking???

[PFA]

HI
Drums were turned. Not doing it all the time, but when it does, only when brakes are applied. I didn't notice any shiny spots anywhere. I would assume that if there were, it would be rubbing all the time..

Will check it out tonight for any rubbing areas.

Thanks

[12Ounce]

I have the same phenom going on my '99 with 320k miles. I've inspected/repaired/replaced about everything about the brakes. I'm about convinced that the bearings, under some loads, are causing the brakes to sound. Hope to get to this soon.

[northern piper]

I had a similar problem on a Jeep Liberty I used to own. I was scratching my head and then talked to an old backyard mechanic and he gave me a tip that worked. He said when you get new shoes to "arc" them, as in make sure that the arc of the shoe fits the arc of the drum. On inspection of the new shoes they were a tiny bit thicker than they needed to be at either end, not the middle of the shoe. So I took a large rasp and removed a tiny amount on the leading/trailing edge. Once that was done and the shoes/drums reinstalled the noise was gone. One thing to check on your van, when you apply the brakes, if you just "ghost" them, does the sound appear? If you brake hard, does the noise not happen? I found this to be the case and I think logically that when the brakes are just lightly applied only the higher edges are touching the drum.

Since learning this install tip I've done it on all shoe installs and have never had that same grinding problem again. I suppose the good news is, if this does turn out to be the cause of your grinding, it'll eventually solve itself.

Good luck and let us know!

[PFA]

Ok. I will check it out. The only thing is, I did the brakejob on that over a year ago....but I will check...

Had another issue come up today....just figured out fuse blew on fuel pump. Getting ready to swap it out and see if it will fire. THEN to figure out why it blew or keeps blowing....

[wiswind]

Rear wheel bearings might need to be repacked.
Another common cause of noise is a rust ridge that usually develops (at least in the wintery north & salt) on the inside edge of the drum.
This would be just outside of the normal friction surface where the brake lining rides......so if things are shifted just slightly (normal in a brake job) then the brake lining could be riding very slightly on the rust ridge......not a super lot of noise, but it really carries through the subframe and sounds louder than it is.

One other thing that I have done, but it should show up when you spin the wheel with the drum off......but I have bumped the wheel sensor while working on brakes....and have it slightly touching the exciter ring (which is the part that looks like a gear that is mounted on the spindle).
Just slightly touching makes a nasty sound that, again, carries through the supframe and sounds really bad.

On the front....I have bumped the splash shield that covers the inside, bottom part of the disk brake rotor....bending it slightly in so that it barely touches the rotor.....again, that makes a nasty sound that carries into the vehile making one wonder what they have done.

[Windstartled]

Had this annoying grinding noise on the passenger side rear wheel all summer long, tried everything to no avail. Every time I tried to fix it the noise would be gone for a few hours then always came back, drove me nuts. Then one day I noticed that the metal tip at the end of the parking brake cable would not stay tucked in and was, in fact, rubbing against the front wall of the drum, causing the grinding noise. I tucked the cable back in in such a way that it couldn't move anymore and voila, no more grinding.

[12Ounce]

Windstartled, you get my thanks ... I don't think I have that concern, but it definitely gets put "on my list" of things to check.

[PFA]

Thanks. I will check that out, it could very well be it.

[PFA]

Well, the noise came back.
Before, I was told that it was on passenger side. It definitely sounded like it....
Well, it now sounds like the driver side. Going to tear it apart here shortly to take a look. Expecting nice grooves....

[PFA]

Got the drum off tonight. Both pad materials detached from the shoes and were spinning around in the drum. Changed everything out except the wheel cylinder. I plan to do that too. That one actually has an issue. One side was pushed out, not leaking though. Got it back in. The other side is froze up. Put the old drum back on. Have to get wheel cyl and change it out....actually going to do both.

Thanks