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03/18/21: With the balmy 40-50 degree weather we have been experiencing, I actually got a little “Truck Time. Last time I drove her in December, the brakes pulled pretty hard to the left. I had tried several times adjusting the brakes, both front and back, but it didn‘t seem to make much of a difference. Suspecting a frozen wheel cylinder or a bad brake hose, I decided pulling the front brake drum on the passengers side would be prudent. Prior to pulling the drum I jacked both wheels off the ground, enlisted my wife’s help and had her feather the brakes, so I could feel the resistance on each drum thinking if the hose was blocked or the wheel cylinder was frozen, I would be able to feel it the wheel. I had her step on the brake slightly and hold her position a few times so I could see if each front wheel had equal resistance. Well, they were real close so I surmised that may not be the problem.

I decided to pull the drum. The first thing I noticed was I could rock the tire and wheel a bit more that I remember when I last adjusted it. Unfortunately, the drum didn’t come off that easily. The drum felt initially like the shoes were getting hung up on the drum so I backed off the star adjuster. Still no go. The inner race was getting hung up on the spindle. After rocking and prying the drum did finally come off. When it did come off, it popped the grease seal and dust cover out of the drum along with leaving the inner race on the spindle.

In October in 2019, when I rebuilt the front axle, I installed new tapered bearings and new shoes. The spindle was worn by a couple of thousands on the bottom and the consensus on this forum that it be fine once the bearings were tightened and adjusted properly. With a little persuasion the inner race came off and the inner race, dust cover and seal appeared to be fine. I took the inner race and slid it on the spindle and it would get stuck on the area that was slightly worn. There was a slight ridge preventing it from sliding on easily that was not there when I initially installed them. I took a stone and removed the ridge, polished it with 600 grit sandpaper.

I suspect that when I initially installed the wheel bearings, they did not seat completely. I did use a torque wrench and torqued them to 12 or so ft. lbs. to seat them, then backed them off 1/2 a flat. Not sure what caused the ridge.

I reassembled the drum and readjusted both front brakes but I don’t have that warm fuzzy feeling that the brake issue is resolved. Unfortunately we’re headed into mud season and my access road is icy and muddy, so test drives are out of the question.