Wheel Cylinder About To Fall Out

The last time I drove my Jeep, I noticed the front driver's side brake drum grabbing and it was progressively getting worse as the day went on. I also noticed when I got home that the hub was hot to the touch. Though I figured this was due to the brake drag, I wanted to inspect the bearings anyway.

Took it apart yesterday and discovered that both bolts for the wheel cylinder were missing. The cylinder was allowed to just flop around there and eventually broke part of the brake shoe off. The bolts were not sheared, they came undone.

Now it is conceivably possible that I didn't tighten them when I put everything together but I probably would have noticed a loose wheel cylinder during the bleeding process.

It's weird but fixable. Scary how close I was to brake failure (cylinder shearing the brake line, shoes coming apart, etc.)

Anyone ever have this happen? Just curious.

 

New one on me. More often it's a PITA to get those bolts out.

 

yep . glad you got home

 

Sounds like a freak occurrence.

What do you think, Loctite those bolts for future prevention?

 

If you want them to snap on removal yeah

 

If this hasn't happened to anyone else then it is most certainly my own fault. I'm guessing I didn't tighten them when I put it together. I did check the other 3 and the bolts are intact and tight. It's just weird -- I could see them being loose or having one fall out, but losing both bolts completely? Oh well, I didn't damage anything beyond repair and I found it before any catastrophic event.

By the way, I did check the bearing and it looks fine so the warm hub was probably due to brake drag. The hub seal had a small chunk missing off the lip, which I assume was from part of the brake shoe that snapped off.

So new seal, repack the bearings, and button everything down appropriately and it should be ready for the road again.

 

When I was driving our 55 cj5 in high school I would lose the brakes often. It was the original worn out nine inch brakes but my father had already had us upgrade to a dual system master cylinder. What was happening was the wheel cylinder was over extending and then I would lose brake fluid. One afternoon we took the Jeep on a power line trail about ten miles from home - had a blast breaking through the ice on frozen puddles. On the ride home I lost the brakes again but this time I could feel the brake dragging. Got home pulled the wheel and found that the piston had popped out of the wheel cylinder and held the brake shoe against the drum. The drum was discolored from the heat and the rubber seals to the wheel cylinder were burnt. This was no big deal to teenage me - we had extra wheel cylinder rebuild kits and I had it back together in no time - feeling proud of myself. The next day on the way to school I hit the brakes again - and lost them. This time the brake loss was followed by a lot of rattling noises. Got the Jeep home that afternoon and pulled the wheel. What I found was that the brake drum had exploded, all that was left was the metal disc. After this I was no longer allowed to drive the Jeep until I spent some of my hard earned dishwashing money from the local pub on an eleven inch brake kit. I guess the moral of my story is to be careful and check those brake drums if your brakes have been dragging.