why do I have a terrible vibration when braking

[DarkoStoj]

car drove fine, but the upper ball joints were TOAST.

So I changed the upper ball joints with new ones (i seriously want to shake the man's hand who designed the upper ball joints with rivots instead of bolts)

I took it out for a ride now and I have TERRIBLE vibrations when braking and the car pulls horribly to the left. I'm thinking the slop in the upper balljoints just covered up the vibes, and now the front end is tight its allowing all those vibes to get transfered through the whole car. Its a 67 mustang with 4 wheel drums and manual brakes.

My question is how do I go about fixing this? I was thinking the inside of the front drums were out of round which was causing the shoes to grip a certain sticky part on the drum causing uneven pressures on the inside of the drum on different spots causing it to vibe. If I turn the front drivers drum with the tire off(the side it pulls to) there seems to be a sticky spot that the drum grabs at.

I've never worked with front drum manual brakes before so I don't really know wha to expect here, looking for some ideas on how to fix this.

 

[ForceFed70]

car drove fine, but the upper ball joints were TOAST.

So I changed the upper ball joints with new ones (i seriously want to shake the man's hand who designed the upper ball joints with rivots instead of bolts)

I took it out for a ride now and I have TERRIBLE vibrations when braking and the car pulls horribly to the left. I'm thinking the slop in the upper balljoints just covered up the vibes, and now the front end is tight its allowing all those vibes to get transfered through the whole car. Its a 67 mustang with 4 wheel drums and manual brakes.

My question is how do I go about fixing this? I was thinking the inside of the front drums were out of round which was causing the shoes to grip a certain sticky part on the drum causing uneven pressures on the inside of the drum on different spots causing it to vibe. If I turn the front drivers drum with the tire off(the side it pulls to) there seems to be a sticky spot that the drum grabs at.

I've never worked with front drum manual brakes before so I don't really know wha to expect here, looking for some ideas on how to fix this.

If it's suddenly pulling to the left, you have brake problems. Most likely your problem lies with the front-right brakes. Take em back apart and make sure you didn't mess something up.

Vibrations are normal with old brakes, but suddenly pulling to 1 side indicates a different sort of problem.

 

[DarkoStoj]

yea normal vibrations dont bother me, but this violently shakes the whole entire car!

When I changed the balljoints I didn't touch the brakes. I just unbolted the upper balljoint from the spindle, and replaced the upper balljoints without even removing the brake drum or tearing into the brakes at all.

 

[pabear89]

But you disturbed 30+ yrs of S**t.

pull the drums off and clean and adjust the brakes.
roll the tire and adjust till you just barely hear a scratching noise.
and test drive.


PB

 

[DarkoStoj]

would cleaning and readjusting the brakes help with that sticky point I feel or would I need to turn the drum also?

 

[6Stang7]

did you pull the drum itself off? the vibrations may be caused by grease on you drum. to fix the pull, just re-adjust the brakes.

 

[DarkoStoj]

i never pulled the drum itself off

 

[10secgoal]

Possible the slop in the ball joints were causing the car to be off in the alignment ? Then you get an alignment and its good. But now that there are new ball joints, alignment now thrown off ?

 

[pabear89]

Your front needs reset after the new ball joints,
but the grabbing could be anything from a rust spot to the drums eggshaped.

But on the plus side you cna check your brakes while you have them off.

PB

 

[DarkoStoj]

yea I think that the problem is the drivers drum being eggshaped. I'm pretty sure the vibes were there all along, but I couldn't tell because the slop in the balljoints absorbed everything. Now that there is no slop its more noticable.

So an egg shaped drum would cause this then? If so I'm going to get the drum turned

 

[John Z]

Vibrations are normal with old brakes, but suddenly pulling to 1 side indicates a different sort of problem.

I disagree that vibrations are normals with a properly functioning drum brake system. Remember drum brakes were used on cars for more than 60 years before disk brakes became popular. The vibration indicates a problem with the system. You could have drums that need to be turned or contamination of the pads. The pulling problem is generally related to brakes being out of adjustment. If that is not the problem it may be worn out strut rod bushings.

 

[ForceFed70]

I disagree that vibrations are normals with a properly functioning drum brake system. Remember drum brakes were used on cars for more than 60 years before disk brakes became popular. The vibration indicates a problem with the system. You could have drums that need to be turned or contamination of the pads. The pulling problem is generally related to brakes being out of adjustment. If that is not the problem it may be worn out strut rod bushings.

That's why I said it's normal for old brakes. I agree, you shouldn't have vibrations on a properly working brake system.

 

[ForceFed70]

His alignment might be off, but if it's only pulling to the left when he brakes, then those symptoms are brake-specific.

Could you have kinked a brake line while working in there?

 

[DarkoStoj]

I got the drums turned, I asked the people at the autoparts store how out of round they were, and they said they were actually pretty straight(it was funny cause I could here them turning the drums from the back and you could tell they weren't even because it would cut the drum for a sec then stop, then hit the highpoint again, then stop again)

I put the drums on and all the vibes and pulls are gone.

Now I'm going to attempt aligning the front of this POS myself. The camber is screwed!

 

[John Z]

That's why I said it's normal for old brakes. I agree, you shouldn't have vibrations on a properly working brake system.

Sorry I misunderstood your post. By old brakes I thought you were refering to old technology drum brakes. I now see that you ment drum brakes that are old and not functioning properly.

Glad to hear that turning the drums fixed the problem. Good luck with the front end alignment.

 

[mustangman1974]

Now I'm going to attempt aligning the front of this POS myself. The camber is screwed![/QUOTE]

I purchased an caster/camber tool from an auction awhile back. Pretty cool looks like the one shown in the old ford manuals, anyways its a pain in the ars to do it yourself. You floor has to be perfectly level. and each tire must be on the same plan and level for it to work correctly. Then you have to figure out how to center the fron ties to set toe. I gave up after three days of frustration. Oh and if your rims are a bit tweaked your done.

I would take it somewhere. My suggestion would do some research on what the specs should be before you go. Many times those F$%^ers will align it to the old mustang they have in the computer, which isn;t even close to being right.