Left Rear Wheel Won't turn

bunnyc

bunnyc

Senior Member
Wheel will turn freely if the axle nut is loose. If I tighten it, it won't turn. I don't mean if I torque it to specs. If I tighten it just a little more than finger tight, it won't turn.

Here the back story. New drums, old hub. New wheel bearing, seal & snap ring. Service and e-brake rods disconnected. Adjusting wedge backed out all the way. Everything brake wise is new.

Car is up on jack stands. Running in third gear, hand throttle set for 35 mph on the speedo. All is well until I tighten the axle nut. Yes, I stop it first before tightening. Right rear is fine.

What's putting it in a bind?
 
I would pull it off and see if the side of the shoes are rubbing on the drum or the drum
is hitting the backing plate.

Bob
 
tighten nut to where the wheel is hard to turn, force turn the wheel then pull it and look for places that have a wear mark on it, backing plate, inside of the drum or marks on the brake shoes
 
Try adding a tapered shim to the axle shaft. Suppliers sell them, or you can make one out of a soda can. Wear on the axle taper or the inside of the drum hub is allowing the drum to go on too far and the drum is rubbing the backing plate or the outboard edge of the shoes.

Tom Endy
 
Thanks for the replies. I ordered the axle shims. I have some shim stock, I'll cut one today and see if that fixes it.
 
Hub worn to limits, I always buy new drum and hub assemblies when doing a brake restoration.
Mike
 
Did you have this problem with the old drums and hubs ? Or is this with new drums and new to this car old hubs ?
Besides the info just given by the fellas, there was a recent post about new studs making contact requiring some judicial grinding to fix the problem.
 
WestCoast said:
tighten nut to where the wheel is hard to turn, force turn the wheel then pull it and look for places that have a wear mark on it, backing plate, inside of the drum or marks on the brake shoes
Click to expand...

Yep, hitting the backing plate. Saw the rub mark; just one place about an inch. Thanks.
 
Patrick L. said:
Did you have this problem with the old drums and hubs ? Or is this with new drums and new to this car old hubs ?
Besides the info just given by the fellas, there was a recent post about new studs making contact requiring some judicial grinding to fix the problem.
Click to expand...

Didn't have the problem with the old drums. Same hub; new drum.
"studs making contact...grinding to fix" that was me.
 
I've seen several backing plates with the bottom bent or badly worn, like the car fell off the jack or the wheel came off while driving.

If your's is rubbing at the bottom, maybe the backing plate just needs to be tapped back a little.
 
Try not to use axle shims. If you can see where it's rubbing follow Tom's advise. Last resort, grind a little off backplate rubbing area. For final rubbing check, push drum in as you rotate and listen. Back off adjuster when checking.
 
Also, with final assembly, make sure axle and hub tapers are grease free. Use lacquer thinner or acetone or brake cleaner with a clean rag, not paper towel.
And thanks again for the measurement help.
 
I agree with Tom . Make sure your backing plate is seated, tight, and not bent . The use of a shoe centering gauge can help you determine if the backing plate is not right . Try and determine if that's the problem. If all is well shim the axle/Hub with a shim if necessary .
Backing plates take a lot of abuse over the years.

Hopefully you can resolve easily
Larry Shepard
 
Last edited:
Tom Wesenberg said:
I've seen several backing plates with the bottom bent or badly worn, like the car fell off the jack or the wheel came off while driving.

If your's is rubbing at the bottom, maybe the backing plate just needs to be tapped back a little.
Click to expand...

Facing the backing plate from the brake shoe side, it's rubbing at the 10 o'clock position. While I'm waiting for the axle shims I'll try tapping it out and grind a little off the edge of the drum.

I sent the backing plates to one of our vendors to have new roller tracks installed. Something may have happened then:confused:
 
bunnyc said:
Facing the backing plate from the brake shoe side, it's rubbing at the 10 o'clock position. While I'm waiting for the axle shims I'll try tapping it out and grind a little off the edge of the drum.
Click to expand...
If it were mine, I wouldn't grind anything until I tried the axle shim.
 
I had a drum rub on my parking brake shoe. But yours with rubbing on the backing plate is a little different. Again as said above, Tom's advise looks good to me but after fixing the rub on the backing plate, and if you have it rub also on the parking brake, then your shims work well to fix this problem. Good luck.
 
Problem fixed! "Tapped" out the backing plate in the area it was rubbing.
Thanks to all for your replies and pointing me in the right direction.

While it was running, I made an observation. It will be in a new thread.
 
Glad to hear the fix was easy.
If shims had been needed to correct for a worn taper, I wouldn't be afraid to use one or two shims.
 
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