Rear Brake Locking Syndrome SEVERE

Guys:

I have had the rear brake locking syndrome we all experience when there is water and brakes. Ive had this problem before and thought i cured it going wiht PG Plus raybestos pads and what not anyways... ive read all the reports on the forum on it and i am going to make sure the brakes are adjusted and probley pull the drums and clean them... here is the thing... every time i had this problem before a few slams on the brake/riding the brakes always cured it.... Last night however after driving thru a nasty puddle the previous night the brakes froze up on one side to the point i almost lost control. It was the rear right tire... It would not un freeze... The funny thing was that in REVERSE the jeep was fine.... no brake grabbing brake function normal.. go forward and the car slams to one side. I am thinking its only one shoe causing the dragging because it works fine in reverse but dont have the brains to figure out which shoe...

anyone know of good non organic pads and any other ideas to try short of cleaning and adjusting them?? (im not going to do a disc swap) and i dont think its the prop valve cuzz its strictly weather....

I used to have that same problem years ago... make sure to use antiseaze on the backing plate where the shoes ride. I used the bendix replacement shoes, and when you take the drums off to clean them, throw some ajax scubing powder in the drums and drive....to help remove the glazing... The water thing is shoe material related....some do and some don't... I hope any of this helps...

Scott.

I had some beindx organic pads that had the problem... what kind of bendix shoes were u using?

I am sure there is a cure for that maligma. Even I the XJ is parked then it rains, I too experiance the locking rear break problem. My quick and dirty solution is to drive a short distance with one foot on the breaks applying sufficient pressure that the engine RPM falls but not enough to severly impeed forward movement. I do this for about 1/8 mile then everything is perfect again. It rains almost daily here in South Florida. Yes those d#! rear brakes are a pain in the a$$. Let me know when a permanent fix is found.

I might also suggest checking the hoses. If one hose on one side is not up to snuff on one side, the other side may lock.

On my Wrangler, changing the hydraulic hoses fixed the unpredictable locking. May want to check it out.

im going to check the hoses and hydaulics but im really thinking its just the xj rear brake locking syndrome only worse.. im starting to think about buying mopar branded pads anyone had luck with them... also wagner makes a thermoquiet SHOE that i dont think is organic anyone know

Measure your drums. If they are over spec in diameter it will cause it lock up. I had the same problem on MJ. I replace the shoes with some NAPA shoes and put new drums on. No problem since. Worked for me and a few of customers with XJs. Just a thought.

HAPYMUDY said:

I might also suggest checking the hoses. If one hose on one side is not up to snuff on one side, the other side may lock.

On my Wrangler, changing the hydraulic hoses fixed the unpredictable locking. May want to check it out.

Click to expand...

The rear only has one hose. It's in the middle (roughly) and goes down to a T, which is then hard line to the wheels.

Any oil in the rear brakes from leaky axle seals will cause this problem, especially when wet.

I had the same problem untill a few weeks ago. All of a sudden they just started grabbing like crazy after I washed it or if I was in the rain, untill they got warmed up, then they were fine. Knew something was wrong, but didn't have the time or money so I just went on about my business. Then they started doing it when wet or hot. Then one day, I had to stop in a hurry for a light (thanks to that moron with the cell phone who cut me off) and they locked up instantly, skidded up to the light (brand new tires on at this point, luckily I didn't flat spot them), and went back to work for a while (was out on a delievery) and let them cool off. Got back in and they were pulling to the left severely. Pulled off the hub and the left one was completely toasted and the right one was becoming completely toasted.

Rode around like that for about 3 more days before I could get the time to put new shoes on. So far thats fixed my issue. Its a cheap enough fix, so you might give new shoes a try.