Squdgy Brake Pedal And Lots Of Travel.

[kyepan 291]

Have been trying to fix my brakes for ages, finally got shown how to sort out the rear drums over the weekend.

 

I was experiencing a very long pedal travel and having to pump a bit to get it hard, not good as i like my brakes just so.

 

Anyhow, after copious bleeding of brakes, a changed master cylinder and more bleeding.. my girlfriends dad took two minutes to work it out.

 

"self adjusters on the back" TBH drums have always scared me because of all the springs

 

whilst the rears had loads of material on them the self adjuster mechanism with the little metal rachet tab was not working. The tab was not touching the teeth on the ratchet and the screw on the adjuster was full of dust. We took the shoes off cleaned and applied copper slip to the contact points and the adjuster screw. Then adjusted them out by hand until they binded to the drums, then backed off just enough. We also bent the tab slightly to engage the ratchet.

 

hey presto, very little handbrake travel. and immediate take up when pushing the pedal.

 

Two tips that he gave me were.

 

Always move the shoes not the spring, for example pull the bottom of the shoes apart to get them off rather than struggling with the spring.

 

After adjusting the adjuster put the drum back on and pump the pedal and the hand brake to equalise and get an accurate indication of your braking.

 

hopes this helps

[jim21070 2]

There you see

 

Drum brakes are not half as fearsome as they first appear...

 

Work well don't they!!!

[wildejon 7]

I've recently done mine (replaced everything) and the handbrake is not even. I was hoping it would sort itself out but no such luck. Shame as the brakes are amazingly good if I tighten the handbrake cable enough to get them both to bite instantly, its just that it means that the handbrake is permenantly on, on one side... Not ideal.

 

I'll have to get the drums off again :-(

 

Amazing what a difference a well adjusted handbrake cable can make though.

[taylorspug 7]

That ratchet tab thing on the self adjusters is the source of most evils IMO, everytime i take one apart with similarly crap rear brakes to those described above, 9 times out of 10 that carppy Girling designed tab is doing absolutely nothing. Putting a little bend in it always seems to do the trick.

Edited September 8, 2006 by taylorspug