I am currently in Guatemala, working at an orphanage for my Christmas. That being the case i am the most qualified mechanic on the premise. The vehicle in question is a 1996 3500 dodge extended wheelbase van. The Van suffers from sporadic braking and grabby brakes. Apon examination i found that the rear drum pads had uneven wear. I have very little experience with drum brakes. Is there anything i can do to adjust the wear on them? Parts are obviously not that easy to find in this section of the world, especially on American products. Any help/advise would be terrific.
Has someone else been in there and berkeleyed it up? 12 years, it's likely. I've never seen the outside of the shoe (correct term for a "drum pad") wear more. They must be in there "caddy-wompus" on you. Man, we are getting some technical terms going now. Anyway, if you pull it all apart, clean it all up and put it back together carefully, paying attention to anything that might make the shoes crooked, it will probably be OK.
Now, I don't think that would make the braking grabby. Are the rear wheels locking? Is there ABS? Are the shoes/pads contaminated with brake fluid? Is there air in the lines somewhere? Do the drums look like they are no longer parallel? That is, is the ID at the inner edge the same as the ID at the outer edge? Just throwing out ideas.
They look like the pads are not touching the drum. Put the drums back on, and bleed the entire brake system, front and back. Pay particular attention to the fluid at the back slaves. I bet the brakes have never been bled. If no fluid comes out, your master is bad. Hopefully its just dirty.
There should be a rubber plug in the backing plate, that you can remove and adjust the pad tension with a screwdriver.
Before you put the drum on, look for the adjustment wheel.
