"....a parking brake lever was hanging up....." Who does that sound like?
Your situation is backwards from what I usually see. Typically the indie garage is the more competent, but it sounds like the Ford dealer is making sense. I sure hope you get this sorted....
The problem I have with dealers is their tendancy to upsell. They imagine a problem then want the moon to fix it. The Mini dealer wanted to sell me spark plugs at 24,000 miles for $350 dollars, they wanted $120 for a cabin air filter and said I needed brakes "immediately" at 14,000 miles. All those parts are still running in the car.....
You made the best choice of the options you were given.......
I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.....Thomas Alva Edison
Well, I'll know when I get it back, but so far the dealership's attention to the problem seems superior. They did not try to tell me that hot brake drums with no foot on the brake is "normal." Maybe it helped when the brakes gave a big groan when the service writer drove it into the garage. I took my sheet of measured temps from the weekend test drives and left it for them. This place has never tried upselling. Maybe a guy who drives a 4-cyl. Ranger doesn't look like a deep pocket.
The parking brake part is something inside the drum. They'll do the estimate tomorrow and I'll know what it is.
"TBS for update rear shoes to stop the lock up problem. They seemed to be boxed wrong when I first saw them. One shoe is bonded and one is riveted. The shoes did work in stopping the lock up on every Ranger I installed they on.:
Got the truck back from the dealership today. They were so proud that they had "kept it under $600." I has asked to meet the guy who worked on it so I could say thank you. Turns out that he approached it analytically instead of by replacing parts until it worked. First he drove it and found one drum 75 deg. hotter than the other. Back at the shop, he wrapped the shoes with cable ties so he could see what happened when the brakes were activated. He checked clearances with feeler gauges (not sure how). He replaced the leaking L rear axle seal. Replaced the L wheel cylinder. "Found wheel cylinder travel incorrect on rear piston," per the write-up. He drove it around and did some hard braking, and the drums were both 140 deg. after that. I was laughing about liking my 20 year old vehicle and he said, "My truck's only one year newer." He understood. Now I feel safe heading off on the highway tomorrow night.
ON the way home, I took my foot off the brake at a stop and the truck rolled backward a bit. Yay, cured!
Good news, Chris. Sometimes taking a vehicle to the dealership is the better choice and in todays world of high tech vehicles it is probably the only choice.
You are lucky you found a dealer than not only fixed the problem, but would work on a vehicle that old. Our little local Chevy dealer sent us a letter informing us that they would unfortunately not be able to work on our old Tahoe since it is 20 years old. Said it wasn't safe to drive and that GM would no longer "support" the electronics. They had serviced it since Lou Grubb sold to Auto Nation in 2008. I don't know who we are going to use now. The Tahoe has 190,000 miles on it, original brakes, original hoses and water pump. We had to replace the radio a few years ago....
I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.....Thomas Alva Edison
Body shops out here won't work on cars over ten years old. You have to take them to hotrod shop or "B" body shops that only work on the older stuff. You'd think with the absence of rust, cars 20 years old would be easy to repair. The electronics are the issue. If you need anything electronic on a car over ten years old, you might be out of luck.
I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.....Thomas Alva Edison
Looking for ideas from the car guys. The truck's brakes were fine for a while after the dealer serviced them. But over the last couple days, they've become troublesome again. Driving the 3 miles between my house and work, it's residential and business streets at low speeds, mostly about 25 mph. The stops are gentle. Starting off. the brakes are fine. I can modulate them properly and the application is smooth and controlled.
As I get farther along, the stops get bumpier. The brakes pulse, like an out-of-round drum. By the time I get to the end, they are coming on abruptly with a notable bump. It's more of either/or instead of smoothly modulated brake pressure. Today I jumped out at home and felt the drums, thinking maybe they had heated way up and distorted their shape. But no, the drums were barely warm.
By now, I'm wondering if maybe it's the proportioning valve--not letting the rear drums come on until a certain pressure is reached, then bang.
When the drums were getting hot, I wondered if maybe the master cylinder wasn't letting the wheel cylinders compress. Unlike discs, the drum brake shoes have to retract under spring pressure, right? And if the master cylinder were not allowing reverse flow, they'd stay engaged some, right? But now I'm having problems without overheated drums.
But if the prop. valve were faulty, maybe it could affect all this?
Chris, until 2022 I was ASE Master Certified Automotive Technician. I let my certs expire then. I have no idea what the issue with your truck's brakes might be. None. You have covered all the bases. I don't see how the prop valve could cause the issue, but you have replaced everything else. The Ford dealer should be on the hook now. If they have integrity, they will get to the bottom of it. I'd let this be THEIR problem. They fired the parts cannon, now let them clean up the mess.....
I haven't failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.....Thomas Alva Edison
Actually, the dealership was fairly modest in parts and heavier on analysis. Noe the brakes aren't overheating. But at the end of a 3-mile drive at low speeds with frequent gentle stops, they get all bumpy and grabby. From a cold start, AOK for the first half of the 3-mile trip. Then it all goes south. Really strange.
I think I would take it back to the dealer who worked on it the last time. Not necessarily to have them work on it again but to pick their brain and see if they have any ideas as to what causes the new symptoms. It sounds like they were honest people so maybe they'll try and help you out.
I agree, Chris, back to the dealer and let them sort it out. From an experience I had which was kind of the same thing you are experiencing, it turned out to be a little air in the brake lines that caused the problem. Cold, it was fine, after lots of stopping things heated up just enough to cause what you are experiencing. I bleed the brakes several times and the problem was gone. Having said this, I think it is the dealers responsibility to fix it.
What's odd is that the rear drums are not heating up now like they did, so I don't think it's bleed issue, plus the pedal isn't spongy. But I have an appointment for tomorrow. I asked for the same tech, who seemed like a bright and analytical young man, but he had not been in... we had a huge ice storm that left many rural residents stranded by downed trees and power lines, and often without heat.
Around here, living in the city has become difficult for young families because of cost and supply. Houses are being bought up as 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th) homes by wealthy outsiders, or rented out as short-term vacation rentals. Working people live way out with long commutes. I am so lucky that I bought 30 tears ago I could not afford to buy in my neighborhood now. A block from where I sit, wealthy folks bought a nice big old Victorian for $675,000 and tore it down to build a new house, stretched out to the zoning setback lines. Another vast new one in the next block replaced a little house much like mine and has 7 bathrooms. That's when I realized that my little 1908 place was destined to be a tear-down and not somebody;s home when I'm gone.
The dealership had ordered a new drum or two for the truck last week but I needed to get downstate to work on the boat, so they banged it back together for me. The trip is 145 miles and I just pushed off and hoped for the best. When I arrived, the right drum was hot to the touch (not flesh-burning, but hot enough that I did not leave my fingers on it) and the left drum was barely warm. I drove around in surburban traffic over the weekend and both drums just got warm-ish at best. Then I aimed home again and at the return, the right drum was hot again and the left was barely warm.
My guess is that maybe the right drum's warp was giving the shoes a little kick as it rotated and the servo effect amplified the contact a little. It's a complete mystery.
Then it started snowing as I drove back. I have driven in snow for years but my least favorite conditions are when the snow completely obscures the painted lane markings at night and I can't tell if I'm in my lane, their lane, or halfway into the ditch. Fortunately there were rumble strips in the middle so I could tell when I was straying int the other lane. Better still, the really snowy area was limited to a few miles.
