10 inch Brake Rebuild

Since there have been several posts lately regarding 10 inch brakes, I thought I would mention that while you are pulling apart the drums, rear hubs, and such, go the extra step and pull out the wheel cylinders. It doesn't take much more time, and if the drums haven't been off the vehicle since most of us were still in high school, it is likely that the cylinders are full of crud. Also, if the bleeder screws are stuck, which they well could be, the only sure way of getting them out is to heat the cylinder with a torch, which requires removal and stripping of the internal parts and fluids. Trust me, taking them apart is no big deal, and if they don't just about fall apart with the brake shoes off, they need service anyway.

I pulled all 4 of mine on my 68 CJ5 this past weekend, and found that each of them had a half teaspoon of rusty goop in them. None were leaking, but only two were even working. All four bleeders were stuck shut, and after twisting two of them off, I figured I might as well take the wheel cylinders straight out. Inspection of the cylinder bores shows corrosion in all four bores. Not bad enough yet to cause leaks, but it won't be long, so I have chosen to replace them. While the cylinders are out, it is easy to flush the hydraulic lines, inspect the iron lines for rusting, kinks and such, and inspect the rubber lines (there should be 3 of them) for cracks.

From there it is only one more step to check the master cylinder, and when done, you will have a nearly new braking system.

 

Good advice. Actually I got into the axle discussion because I needed to pull the hubs to rebuild the brakes. As with most CJ5 things it has ended up being more than I expected. I have the brakes done now with new shoes, speed bleeders, and wheel cylinders. Found one adjuster totally frozen so that was a job getting it freed up. Found one hub split and waiting for new one to arrive from Herm ($42) and one drum scored to much and waiting on a replacement from Turner ($54). The other drum is being turned and the hub being pressed off to replace studs with non swaged versions. One brake line twisted off so tomorrow I need to get a new 25 inch line and the rubber connecting hose while I have them apart. On the drivers side the seals and dust shields on one side were put together by the PO incorrectly between the backing plate and the axle housing and were ground to pieces, so I'm also waiting on shim kit, seals, new keys from Turner. Once I get this all back together I'll find out if my sinking brake pedal was a wheel cylinder or if I also need to replace the master cylinder. Fun Fun Fun! I love this stuff. Also need to remove and put bushings into the brake/clutch pivot. As a side note for the kind of desert wheeling I do I have found the 10" brakes very good. I'm moving to Utah this summer and water may become an issue then. Since this CJ is not driven on the street much really good brakes are not needed, they just lock up in the sand.