new brake drums

[drmango]

I have recently had some brake work done by a local mechanic. He replaced drums, shoes and wheel cylinders. I picked up the vehicle and the brake peddle pulsates considerably. I brought it back suspecting the drums are out of round. The mechanic said he doesn't turn new drums "that's old school". I thought it was good practice to turn down even new drums to insure that they are round.

Any thoughts? Could something else be causing the pulsating brake pedal while braking?

Thanks,

Dave

 

[CJ]

I always have my rotors or drums put on the lathe and checked or turned. Old school or not, you never know how the parts were stored and that can induce warpage. If the pedal pulsates then something is not true. Could even be rust on the axle flange.

Tell him you invoking an other old school term - "withholding payment" until the brakes are correct.

 

[drmango]

will do.....thanks!

 

[BusaDave9]

Drum brakes all around? All new drums? They shouldn't need to be turned down. They do that at the factory.
Pulsating brakes often mean glazed brakes, usually rotors. I assume you don't have disk brakes up front.
It is odd how glazed brakes cause the pedal to seem to push back as the tire rotates but since the drums are new I don't think they could be glazed. It is possible that the mechanic got some grease or oil on the brakes. I would think that would give symptoms similar to glaze. Either way the mechanic worked on your brakes and now they don't work right. Bring the jeep back to him.
An honest mechanic will admit to a mistake an do the work at no charge. On the other hand he may say "I found one more bad part. You owe me another $300 before you can pick up your jeep"
Just make sure he doesn't do any billable work without talking to you first.

 

[CJ]

I'm still betting a warped drum from being stored on it verticle and not horizontal (rotors should be stored vertical) or a drum not on straight.

But your right, a bit of grease or a shoe not broke in correctly could do this.

 

[drmango]

Thanks for the input. Yes all new drums, all around. I am suspecting he will find a "bad part" and blame it on that. He has a good reputation so I hope he will be honest.

Yeh, the pedal pushes back at least an inch travel up and down. Like I was driving a weeble wobble.

It definately didn't have this issue before the brake job. Then again it didn't stop either.

Thanks again....

 

[drmango]

just to update, mechanic found some of the drums to have high spots. Manufacturer is not warrantying them so they will be turning all drums just to make sure they are truely round. - no charge.

Thanks

 

[Old Dog]

Good to hear he made it right, not many honest machanics left out there.
I've had pretty good luck with drums, but I've gotton a lot of cheap (read china made) rotors that were warped right out of the box.