Finally figured out my brakes!

[brokenujoint]

Well, about 6 yrs ago i had Hicks4x4 in pomona put a dana 44 with gears and a locker in my tj. They put in a dana 44 that wasnt from a jeep and had RE brackets put on, used 30 spline moser axles, 4.56 gears and a detroit locker. they told me they put on 11" drum brakes. ok whatever... worked great!

6 yrs later, its time to do a drum brake job. i pull the drums and yep the pads are dead/dying. so i un-thinkingly go to autozone and say, " i need some brakes." what yr? "SHIET!....."... well its for a 97 tj, but the rearend is a ??????????... i know its a 44.... now let me tell you guys... all 44's are not built the same... SO with that said, i go home get the parts i need and come back and do a eye ball swap out including pads and a new wheel cylinder. i get home do a brake job and its worse than EVER!.. brakes bind, they grind and they feel like theres no power brake action. lines are completely bled... what the heck!...

so finally i get around to figuring this rear end out..... i get my flap wheel out from my port/polish kit that im working on for my stroker and grind some paint on the stamped on numbers on my housing's tubing.. i get a set of numbers refered to as BOM numbers. i look it up ( for like 2 hours) because the DANA site and many other sites just dont give up these numbers.... i FINALLY find out what yr and stuff its from..

Its from a 1978.5 - 1979 Ford F-100 2x4 pickup truck.. LMAO!

So i just go to google, type ford forums, weed through and i find a good bronco/FS truck sites. then i find broncograveyard.com BINGO... today i ordered new drums, cylinders, pads, springs, and cables for around 202.00 delivered... i'll keep you guys updated as to whether it works out for me!.. later!

[Mtbikbob]

wow......Interesting. You have the best write ups. I know if I ever have a question, you have probably encountered it and can give step by step directions to fix it.
Thanks,
BobO

[jeeper89]

that is why i like doing most of the work myself like choosing the axles and putting them under then i know when i go to get some parts.

[brokenujoint]

back to the drawing board. after ordering up these brake parts i start thinking (AFTER I ORDERED THEM OF COURSE), are these drums 5x4.5?.. sure as hell they arent! looks like a 6 lug... f word!... SO when i get these things, im wondering if i can just use my other drums, lay them on top of the new ones and drill new holes for the lug nuts? will this work?

also what drums out there are 11" w/ 5x4.5 lug pattern? anyone, anyone?

[goodtimes]

If you get your pattern off center by more than ~.012, you are going to run into problems. IF (and it is a big IF) you can get the drums on(--they will likely have interferance problems with the pilot on the axle shaft--), you will have vibration problems, similar to a out of balance tire. .012 is the spec we used to manufacture to on both drums and rotors.

A better option is to pay a machine shop that will set the drum up on a index table, and use a mill to drill the pattern on the centerline of the drum. Any decent machinist will be able to do this pretty quick, and have your pattern within +/- .001 without any trouble.....assuming the 5 on 4.5 pattern will fit around whatever the drum has drilled in it.

[brokenujoint]

i found that the 71-75 f100 would have come 5x4.5.. i ordered the 77.5 to 1978 ones... figures!..... thats the make of my rear end so hey what can i say. i'll have to send the drums back...

ive also learned that a 1990 mercury grand marquis has 11" 1/32 x 2 1/4 5x4.5 drums at autozone for 51.00 a pop.. looks like thats my answer.

[brokenujoint]

well the marquis brake drums dont work. they are 5 x 4.5 but the drum is to deep and hits my backing plate. my backing plate is another mystery. its a 4 bolt. 9's come 4 bolt. older 44's come like 6 bolt or something like that and they are 5x5.5 at the drum.. im at my wits end!. im gonna try some 72-74 wheel cylinders and 2" shoes. the drums are 2 3/4 deep and the shoes that are on it now are only 1.75".. i can do a 2" safely. i think that maybe the wheel cylinder driver side isnt right because this ALL started when i had to replace a wheel cylinder.... go figure. i returned the drums i bought for 170.00 at autozone. the other stuff i got from another online site is a lose for me. oh well.. i'll keep you guys up to date... also i'm gonna check into a disk brake conversion if it fails me.

[Britain]

Thats evil!

[brokenujoint]

can you guys believe it was a wrong type of wheel cylinder. autozone F'ed up and gave me the wrong one. i put some 1976 cylinders in there with some 1976 11" x 2" shoes and the thing purrs!!!!!!!!!!.... i bought some of those speed bleeders too. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED AT 10.00 A SET OF 2

[brokenujoint]

And Britain.. thanks for the time for my jeepenstein art.. lol.... im proud.. ok and btw why does your tj look like mine?!

[Britain]

And Britain.. thanks for the time for my jeepenstein art.. lol.... im proud.. ok and btw why does your tj look like mine?!

If your looks like this, funny I got some mystery stuff under mine also. Going to start a list soon to untangle it.

[SIZED]http://britain.connectnet.com/Photography/DC92306/photos/photo11.jpg[/SIZED]

[brokenujoint]

well sadly i dont have 60's, but the 44 is good for me for now.

[igofshn]

So why didn't you call hicks 4x4 in pomona and ask them what they used??? Sure seems easier than what you have been through.

[brokenujoint]

no longer in business as of about 1.5 yrs ago. Vince moved somewhere in Arizona.

[brokenujoint]

well got it all put together yesterday. then i installed the speed bleeders that i bought from pep boys for 10.00 each pair,...20.00. came home put em on, bled the fronts. super easy to do. filled up the fluids again, went to the rear, bled those.. then got in the jeep started it up, backed it up and noticed the pedal was spongy. got out looked in the fluid fill, and it was real low. ok so i filled it up again. got in started to take off, spongy again. hmmmm.. put it in the garage. looked behind the jeep for whatever reason and saw a lake of fluid on the ground. #$@#$#S$#$!!!!!.. right rear speed bleeder was dead. i didnt do anything different to this one, it just didnt like its new home.. GREAT. i was SO SO SO clean with the brake job all the way through, now i got a mess in the garage(apartment life remember!) and now its all over the driveway area and leads into my garage..(tells the management, "LOOK HERE FOR A HOME MECHANIC!!). SHIET!...

cat liter and sun do wonders on brake fluids. its almost gone 2 days later...

brakes? WONDERFUL!