Pulsing Pedal after Rear Brake Replacement (1 Viewer)

[Gretsch]

So I did what I hate doing and had a shop replace my rear brakes along with some other things on my '84. New rear axle bearings, new shoes, new drums, new wheel cylinders and hardware. Life has recently got in the way of doing work on my Cruiser myself so in an effort to avoid the neglect that so often comes with owning one of these beasts, I just had a highly recommended shop do the work for me. Since getting the truck back, I am getting periodic pulsing pedal when and depending on speed some fairly intense vibrations applying the brakes. This was not there at all before this work and all that's changed is the rear axle work done on this truck. I am pretty sure the pulsing is due to the new drums being out of round somehow from the factory. But wanted to throw this out to the hive mind and see if it could be something else going on (bent axle, poorly adjusted rear brakes, etc.). The parking brake does not really work any better than it did before this work. The shop told me my brake booster needed replacing (likely original). I have experienced issues with boost when its cold out. Found a split hose supplying vacuum to the booster so replaced that and I think I am good there now. Shop recommended a new master as well but I have good pedal and its not leaking so opted out of that one. Not saying its not required but I'll replace that myself at some point.

So is there some kind of 'bed in' period where the new drums and shoes need time to mate up? Or is this likely just a simple adjustment mistake. Can an intermittent or failing booster cause something like this? I have admittedly not pulled this apart yet to see what's going on. I think getting new drums and having them not be totally round from the factory is a real thing. But wanted to extend this to the good folks here to get some thoughts. I don't feel the vibes in the steering wheel really. Its more in the seat so pretty sure the pulsing is coming from the rear and not the front. ITs mostly on hard braking this happens. I did recently replace my front calipers and rotors with parts from CruiserOutfitters but they have been on for months now and really no issues before this work. I reached out to the shop with messages and Emails asking them about this but so far they have not returned my queries. Thanks in advance for any help here.

 

[OSS]

Hard to believe but… your new drums probably are out of round.
Take them off and take to a shop that can turn them on a lathe. At least rule that out.
When the guy starts one on the lathe, you’ll hear that it’s out of round because the sound will oscillate as the cutting bit hits the high spot.

No biggie and it doesn’t cost much - but new drums normally shouldn’t need that done.

 

[ChaserFJ60]

So I did what I hate doing and had a shop replace my rear brakes along with some other things on my '84. New rear axle bearings, new shoes, new drums, new wheel cylinders and hardware. Life has recently got in the way of doing work on my Cruiser myself so in an effort to avoid the neglect that so often comes with owning one of these beasts, I just had a highly recommended shop do the work for me. Since getting the truck back, I am getting periodic pulsing pedal when and depending on speed some fairly intense vibrations applying the brakes. This was not there at all before this work and all that's changed is the rear axle work done on this truck. I am pretty sure the pulsing is due to the new drums being out of round somehow from the factory. But wanted to throw this out to the hive mind and see if it could be something else going on (bent axle, poorly adjusted rear brakes, etc.). The parking brake does not really work any better than it did before this work. The shop told me my brake booster needed replacing (likely original). I have experienced issues with boost when its cold out. Found a split hose supplying vacuum to the booster so replaced that and I think I am good there now. Shop recommended a new master as well but I have good pedal and its not leaking so opted out of that one. Not saying its not required but I'll replace that myself at some point.

So is there some kind of 'bed in' period where the new drums and shoes need time to mate up? Or is this likely just a simple adjustment mistake. Can an intermittent or failing booster cause something like this? I have admittedly not pulled this apart yet to see what's going on. I think getting new drums and having them not be totally round from the factory is a real thing. But wanted to extend this to the good folks here to get some thoughts. I don't feel the vibes in the steering wheel really. Its more in the seat so pretty sure the pulsing is coming from the rear and not the front. ITs mostly on hard braking this happens. I did recently replace my front calipers and rotors with parts from CruiserOutfitters but they have been on for months now and really no issues before this work. I reached out to the shop with messages and Emails asking them about this but so far they have not returned my queries. Thanks in advance for any help here.

Hard to believe but… your new drums probably are out of round.
Take them off and take to a shop that can turn them on a lathe. At least rule that out.
When the guy starts one on the lathe, you’ll hear that it’s out of round because the sound will oscillate as the cutting bit hits the high spot.

No biggie and it doesn’t cost much - but new drums normally shouldn’t need that done.

I had the same issue, New drums and a pulsing brake pedal. Took it to oriellys to resurface the drums and now I have smooth brakes

 

[cps432]

I saw a video a couple months ago where a guy had bought brand new OEM rotors through Oreilly or one of the other box stores for a new model vehicle. Within ten miles the center of the rotor popped off of the brake flange and the entire brake system failed. He brought the rotor back and got some new ones. He probably over torqued the lug nuts and stressed the cast iron, however, there should be way more flex than that. I can see over torquing causing stress fractures, but this sucker completely sheered off at the flange surface. Moral of the story is, they don't make 'em like they used to and it's only getting worse. Beware the recycled iron from China.

 

[Gretsch]

Hard to believe but… your new drums probably are out of round.

I had the same issue, New drums and a pulsing brake pedal. Took it to oriellys to resurface the drums and now I have smooth brakes

Yeah nothing shocks me anymore really. I figured it had to be something like this. I just wanted to make sure it was not something known I was unaware of. Thanks for the confirmation. I'll take these off and have them cut.

 

[2mountainfish]

I also replaced everything on my rear brakes and had the same problem. I pulled my new drums and they were out of round. Turned them, and the problem went away.

 

[MarkBC]

Got some aftermarket drums for my sisters Echo and they soon started cracking.

 

[Gretsch]

So was able to confirm my initial suspicions with this issue this weekend. It was just as everyone suggested. Drums were out of round. Had them turned and now the truck is right as rain. No more dancing pedal. The guy turning them says he sees this all the time nowadays. Something to do with being stored upright instead of flat over long periods. Not sure about that but whatever it was its solved for me now. Spent the rest of this weekend apologizing to my Cruiser for what I had done. As always thanks again for the help and confirmations.

 

[Spike Strip]

Welcome to the world of chi-comm made brakes.

Your shop should have checked the drums before install.

 

[Gretsch]

Your shop should have checked the drums before install.

Yeah agreed. Even a quick drive afterwards would have alerted them to something being wrong with the installation. First application of the brakes it showed up for me so its pretty clear they didn't check things closely and likely didn't even test drive it after they were done. Another example of why I typically avoid having others do work on my Cruiser if I can. Believe it or not the only shops that have touched it since I have owned it is this one, an alignment shop, and a Toyota dealership. The dealership was cheaper than this shop and I got it back with no hassles. For the money I paid this shop I wouldn't think a quick drive to test things out before giving it to me would have been too much to ask. The fact they wouldn't respond to queries about it after the fact is just not caring. Again they are super busy with work so they just don't have the time to be careful with what they do. They came highly recommended so thought I would try them out. Likely the last time and lesson learned.

 

[Skniper]

You should at least send them a follow up email explaining how you finished their job on your dime and time.
For no other reason than just to poke them in the ribs one more time and see if you get any response at all.

 

[Spike Strip]

Same thing happened to me with Disc rotors the only time I had a 'reputable' shop work on my F150 - they were warped out of the box and I had a terrible shimmy in the steering wheel when braking. The F'ing shop wouldn't replace the new rotors, but they turned them on the truck, and shimmy disappeared. Obviously, they didn't test drive either.

That was the first/last time (and a pertinent Yelp review) that I went there or let a shop do brakes on any vehicle I own.

 

[Gretsch]

You should at least send them a follow up email explaining how you finished their job on your dime and time.
For no other reason than just to poke them in the ribs one more time and see if you get any response at all.

Yeah agreed here as well. In their defense I didn't try too hard to get back with them when this came up. Sent an Email or two. Maybe they didn't get them or their reply got lost. I should have raised hell with them at the time, but frankly the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth for other reasons. I was just happy to have my truck back and be done with the whole thing. This place is not really close by and the reality is it would have likely been way more effort and time to have them deal with it than just doing it myself. I should have just taken it back that day and asked WTH, but didn't. Shouldn't have to do that at all but again everyone takes their stuff there so they are really just too busy to handle details. I don't want to make this a shop bashing thing. I knew the risks taking it there in the first place. No one loves your cruiser like you love your cruiser and nothing like doing work twice.....especially when you paid for it to be done the first time. Again thanks everyone for the help. Couldn't own one of these without everyone here.