Forklift leaking brake fluid from right brake drum

Likely needs a flush and fill of the entire system and rebuilt wheel cylinders all around

Check the brake fluid. Is it clean and clear or does it have a green tinge? The green is likely algae and needs to be flushed out. I found algae in the clutch cylinder on my truck. I flushed the heck out of the system then replaced both the master and clutch cylinders. The parts were inexpensive. Now the master cylinder is nice and clear. The clutch works much more linearly and easily.

Recommend purchase a power bleeder.

It will save you a *lot* of time and aggravation. I spent my life doing it the old way and the power bleeder makes the job almost a pleasure.

--Winston

OK.

The next problem is taking the wheels off, they are held by nuts that are 1 3/8" or so wide.

Clean and clear.

What fluid should I use? DOT brake fluid?

i

On 11/1/2011 8:03 PM, Ignoramus18836 wrote: ...

OK on any I've seen.

I'm sure if you look you can find out anything you want/need to know from Cat--they'll have parts diagrams, spec's, everything except possibly service manuals online (we're all Green, but same is bound to hold for yellow).

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Here is a picture of it

CAT will run forever with maintenance. Go get yourself a full

3/4 inch socket set. Next month you will get something that requires a 1" set, but this will do for now!

Paul

(...)

I agree with Paul. This sounds like an excellent excuse to get that 1" drive socket set you always wanted. :)

Buy a box of nitrile gloves, not the dissolving latex kind. Brake work is really dirty. The asbestos dust is hazardous so wear a respirator. Nobody will be looking at you. :)

A can of penetrating oil may be useful to soak the wheel cylinder bolt and plumbing.

Resist the urge to clean the brakes with your air nozzle. You really don't want anybody breathing that stuff.

Provide yourself *a lot* of ventilation.

Have a few cans of 'brake cleaner', a couple clean parts brushes and your camera on hand when it is time to disassemble. After washing down the brake mechanism, take pictures at various angles at every step of disassembly so that you will be able to reassemble everything properly. There is no such thing as too many pictures when repairing brakes, especially drum brakes.

Pay careful attention to the springs and sheet metal parts you encounter. The springs really like to 'let go' at exactly the wrong time, propelling parts underneath heavy work benches, so stage your tools so that you can get at them comfortably without having to stretch too much.

If you discover a cracked hose, put the tools down and get the part on order.

Good news!

(...)

As dpb notes, get the correct info from Cat. (I see that brake fluid is up to 'DOT 5.1'.)

--Winston

Or....call your local fork lift service guy and watch how he fixes the brakes!

Paul

(...)

Yes. That will keep the blood pressure down.

--Winston

Turns out Cat isn't quite so easy as Deere--you have to pick a Cat dealership and access the parts/service web site through their web site portal. (Deere has open access to the parts books online w/o registration.) But, while a pita initially, it's bound to be worth the hassle if you have the machine and intend to do anything at all with it.

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Don't guess, and don't take anyone's word for the proper type fluid. Do your homework to ensure you use the right one. They are not all compatible with one another.

Harold

2nd on the power bleeder, and any DOT fluid.

I did my truck a couple years ago, It was a stone bitch to get the drums off, they had rusted in place. Crowbar and BFH time. After that, it was a standard brake job. They are built just like every other drum brake. I turned the drums on my lathe, bought the shoes from hyster, the cylinder rebuild kits from NAPA. Had to build a custom thingy to adjust the brake shoes, there's no room for a screwdriver.

Have fun.

Karl

is this it?

i

It should be fairly simple, frozen bolts and inaccessible bolts notwithstanding. Winnie's right, avoid the dust. Wet down some newspapers after placing them on the ground below the brake job, remove the drum, and drop it flat on the paper to shake off dust. Use a stiff brush (cut-down 2" nylon paint brush works well) to work more off and then take the drum outside (downwind) and blow the remainder off. Then have it turned and wash it down with brake kleen before installation. I usually marked the customer's name and wheel position on the car into the drum before sending them out, and marked the lug and drum to put it on the same way if the wheels were spin balanced on the vehicle. It reduced error.

The person suggesting the 3/4" drive socket set was right. HF has some cheap sets in both 3/4" and 1".

You might want both regular and deep (impact!) sockets, a breaker bar (for places you can't get your impact into), and a 3/4" impact gun. Maybe you can find another cheap impact gun like the one you sold for a gazillion percent profit that last time. ;)

Algae grows in water. Water is the bane to brake systems. Replacement of the cylinders was the way to go.

Howard had the correct answer: Find out from CAT, then use the suggested fluid. Power bleeders (pressure from the master or vacuum from the wheel) are good. They allow you to do the job yourself, without help.

Karl, they sell brake spoons, y'know.

yours look like that when you were done? I cut mine in half when I needed a shorter one for an import truck with top adjuster once, and it turned out to be very handy for everything at that length. I most often used the angled side rather than the curved one.

-- Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens. -- Jimi Hendrix

(...)

Which reminds me of something I wish I knew much earlier!

Drums can be a pain to remove even if you have sufficient gap and they can be impossible to remove without the gap.

You will want to turn each adjuster so that you increase the gap between the shoes and the inside of the drum

*before* you attempt to remove the drum.

You would poke your adjustment tool through the back of the mounting plate and rotate the star wheel down a few times.

If your drum has threaded removal holes, you can then put bolts in them to pull the drum off the axle.

--Winston

...

Na, that wouldn't work. You got less than 1/2" from the little long hole to the fork mast. I made a right angle brake spoon, I guess.

Iggy

A while back you had a video of a something like a 2" impact wrench. That will snatch that nut right off.

CarlBoyd

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W/ the caveat it's highly unlikely it will have a DOT 5 (silicone-based) fluid but be sure to not mix the DOT 3,4, or 5.1 (glycol-based) with a DOT 5 if it were to be (or vice versa).

Again, place to find out what was recommended/used before going ahead. Actually, I'd presume there would be at least a reasonable chance there's an indication on the master cylinder cover or a decal or something that notes the DOT classification.

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