My 1988 Standard 2WD Toyota pickup truck has intermittent scraping in rear driver side wheel. It only occurs after slowing down from higher speeds and making a turn. It seems to happen IN the turn. The scraping pulses and is in time with the speed of the truck. Once it starts scraping, I stop for a minute, then it goes away. This makes me think it is my rear brake drum, overheating and locking up. I’ve jacked up, in neutral, with handbrake OFF and both rear wheels have extreme resistance when I turn them by hand. I also jacked the front to compare the resistance of the front wheels, and there is nearly none. Not sure if this is normal since it is RWD. An Ideas? Thanks
Remove the drums and inspect the shoes and hardware.
yes. this is of course my next step. I figure it is either the brakes or bearings. Wondering if anyone has a little more specific idea as to what could be happening.
Sorry. Sounds (noises) are very difficult to diagnose through words. Take the advice of Rod Knox.
If, after a drive, you can’t hold your hand on the rear hubs (too hot) you could be doing damage to the brakes and the bearings. In severe cases, brake fluid can boil and braking compromised. Why both brakes would be dragging is somewhat of a mystery, unless recent work was done incorrectly. Also, there usually is a common rubber brake line to the rear axle for both sides. That brake line may be constricted and if it has never been changed, could probably use it. Both rear bearings failing at the same time would be even more of a mystery.
thanks red knox and insightful. I’ll have some time to investigate further this weekend.
I think the OP said that it was just the drivers side rear.
Still I’d pull both drums and inspect everything.
Those drums don’t just slip off…They have threaded holes into which 2 bolts are turned which will push the drums off the axle…These trucks have a rather unique emergency brake setup connected to the rear brake shoes which also serve as the self-adjusters…Clean the brakes up with a garden hose and inspect them both carefully for proper assembly…There is a two-part lever attached to the parking brake cable at the bottom and on a pin at the top of the rear shoe. A cross-link with a return spring wrapped around it transfers effort to the front shoe…
With the drums off, see if there is any up and down or side to side movement in the rear axles which points to a failed wheel bearing…You should be able to rotate the axles with little effort…