Where there is smoke there is fire. I have been noticing lately that after some longer drives (20 miles or more) upon stopping I am getting smoke coming from my rear passenger side wheel well. There is no smoke coming from any other portion of the car, or any other wheel well, just that one. I touched it the other day to see what was hot, and the inside (part facing inside of car) of the brake drum was F-ing HOT.

would could be the problem? Is it that my shoes are worn down so much i am getting metal on metal? Do I need to adjust the drums? the car is old so I figure I will replace all shoes (all 4 drums) and adjust all of them as needed.

so here are questions simplified:
what is causing smoke? Do i need to adjust or replace then adjust? and can I hold off until saturday? is it safe to drive?

info on car: 1966 slant, replaced master cylinder about 2 weeks ago. that is it.
thanks ahead of time
caesar

Smoke from a brake drum is a sure sign of trouble so you should spend a few minutes and at least check it out. It is simply a matter of jacking-up the car, removing the wheel and sliding-off the break drum.

My guess is that some gear oil or brake fluid is leaking onto the brake shoes which will cause the smoke. You will want to figure out where the leak is so you can get the parts to fix that. If oil or brake fluid has soaked the brake lining, you will want to replace those also.

Be sure to look at the emergancy brake cables to see if they release fully. A sticking e-brake cable can drag the shoes and cause excess heat.
DD

In addition to the Doc's suggestions I also would check your rear axle bearing at that tire and make sure that your shoes ar eproperly adjusted and aren't dragging. However, I would expect there to be a pull to one side if a drum brake was dragging. If your car is an all drum brake car I would take this opportunity to double check that all the shoes are properly adjusted.

Reed

If you were hitting metal on metal you would deffinately hear it, especially if it is enough to smoke something.

Brake drums will get untouchably hot during use but the smoke is likely oil or maybe brake fluid touching it.

As far as the smoke, I kind of figured it would be fluid of some sort, but just wanted some opinions. the car does kind of pull to that side (passenger side) a little, but not too much. the drum is VERY hot, i touched it and almost melted my skin to it.

here are my questions based on your guy's info:
If stuck e-brake cables, how to make sure they dont get stuck again?
If bad wheel bearing (which I dont think it is, but you never know) how will I know it is bad wheel bearing?
If adjuster or spring is broken causing shoes to "lock" or press against drum, how to fix those parts, or find new ones (who and where)?
Okay so fluid in drum or on parts that are heating up, if there is a leak I can find that and determine what parts I will need.

Last question:
How safe is it to drive say about 2-3 miles to and from work in a day? and then one drive of 26 miles to house where i can work on the car? (26miler = mostly freeway with very few stops.).


Damn it. I had just started getting the car dialed in too. Bad timing my other car (the back-up) melted a ton of wires and i think my starter is jacked up. Bad timing, oh well so is life.

Well, check your master cylinder reservoir levels and rear end oil level to make sure there is enough in there. As long as you have good brakes, I wouldn't mind driving it 2-3 miles but I wouldn't take it out longer then that untill you pop the wheel off and check it out.

you most likely have a seized parking brake cable. Your adjuster could be defective as well, but I doubt it. Alternately, the two or three pads on the backing plate that each shoe slides on could conceivably be worn enough that the shoe is catching on it and dragging, or something could be bent and shifted, causing the shoes to bind. Maybe the keeper springs that attach the shoe to the backing plate are broken.

A bad wheel bearing, bad enough to cause your symptoms, would be doing three things, a) grinding constantly, b) allowing your drum and axle shaft to shift upward enough to drag the drum on the lower half of the shoes and c) opening the bottom of your axle seal allowing gear oil to seep onto your shoes, unless of course the oil level in your diff is below the axle tubes. This would be a SEVERE case and I highly doubt it's what you have, since you arent complaining of any grinding noise from the rear. But it isnt that loud and can almost sound like road noise, like the kind you get when driving on gravel. Anythings possible; youll get answers fast once you have the wheel off. The cause of your symptoms should be obvious then.

Replace them with high quality cables. That's it. Cables generally cant be lubricated as regular maintenance, and oil attracts dust and dirt. Use aerosol motorcycle chain WAX, like Boeshield, if you must.

The "road noise"ish grinding noise, you can also try to wiggle the wheel flange up and down with the drum off. You should not feel any play in the axle shaft, up and down.
A brake hardware kit will include all springs, caps, and adjuster cables and parts. Ask for it when ordering the shoes, which I would definitely replace if theyve overheated for a long time, and your brake drum is probably warped by now, you can wait till the shoes are on and road test it, but Id toss it and throw a new one on anyway.
I would just rent a puddle-jumper for a couple days and tow the car to your safehaven. Pop the wheel off first and order the necessary parts before you disable the car, so they are ready when the car's torn apart.

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