Hey mates, again from Portugal. Got my cinq for roughly 2 years now, but thing that NEVER worked was.. (You might guess) the rear drums. I remember last year Portuguese mot that the car was 45%, something related to rear brakes (I guess is the difference between rear wheels, idk) so, the adjustment cable under the car is on the maximum, and the hand brake is bent towards up of trying to brake the car. All I can tell is that when I tried to adjust the brakes, they would go back to no brakes. Any help?
Technical Another rear brake thread (sorry)
- Thread starter zedorio
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Technical Another rear brake thread (sorry)
well 2 common problems to take a look at first would be the handbrake actuator levers and the cable itself, they are the little levers the cable pulls on when you pull the handbrake.
The actuator levers are at the drum, what the cable pulls on.. To get them off you need to drop the drum off and unhook it from the shoes and feed it through the slot out the rear of the backing plate. They are renowned for seizing. You can just replace but usually if you spend some time cleaning you can free them up, lots of WD40 as they melts the rust as well and lubricating. you may need a hammer to free it up but once its freeing up keep turning and spraying WD on it. Eventually it should move super freely, whack some copper slip on it and put it back together.
As they are getting older it seems more and more common for the handbrake cable to seize or not move freely inside its sheath. Now I have never bothered trying to fix this, perhaps spraying silicone spray up it and wiggling for a long time would free it but its only gonna be a temp fix. But with it disconnected from the levers at the back and the handbrake handle check the cable slides nice and easily. If not just replace it with a new one is best course of action.
Other than that you are just checking the usual stuff really, weeping at any brake line connectings, pinholes in the hard-lines, the wheel cylinder rubber boots are good and not leaking fluid, that you don't have a big lip on the inside edge of the drum, there is friction material left on the shoes and stuff like..
The actuator levers are at the drum, what the cable pulls on.. To get them off you need to drop the drum off and unhook it from the shoes and feed it through the slot out the rear of the backing plate. They are renowned for seizing. You can just replace but usually if you spend some time cleaning you can free them up, lots of WD40 as they melts the rust as well and lubricating. you may need a hammer to free it up but once its freeing up keep turning and spraying WD on it. Eventually it should move super freely, whack some copper slip on it and put it back together.
As they are getting older it seems more and more common for the handbrake cable to seize or not move freely inside its sheath. Now I have never bothered trying to fix this, perhaps spraying silicone spray up it and wiggling for a long time would free it but its only gonna be a temp fix. But with it disconnected from the levers at the back and the handbrake handle check the cable slides nice and easily. If not just replace it with a new one is best course of action.
Other than that you are just checking the usual stuff really, weeping at any brake line connectings, pinholes in the hard-lines, the wheel cylinder rubber boots are good and not leaking fluid, that you don't have a big lip on the inside edge of the drum, there is friction material left on the shoes and stuff like..
I would not lube the lever arms with Copper grease as it's not really a grease... it's designed more to keep different metals apart and prevent electrolytic corrosion.
The arm and the pivot pin are made of the same material (steel) so only need regular grease. A good smear of lithium or graphite based grease all over the pivot arm joint would be more waterproof and lubricate better.
Unless your cables are really bent/manky/chewed up they're likely okay inside. Once you have the cable detached from the lever arm you'll be able to tell how freely they move by working the handbrake.... but take care if you only jacked up one wheel, aren't using axle stands and only have the handbrake on to keep the beast from falling over...
Ralf S.
The arm and the pivot pin are made of the same material (steel) so only need regular grease. A good smear of lithium or graphite based grease all over the pivot arm joint would be more waterproof and lubricate better.
Unless your cables are really bent/manky/chewed up they're likely okay inside. Once you have the cable detached from the lever arm you'll be able to tell how freely they move by working the handbrake.... but take care if you only jacked up one wheel, aren't using axle stands and only have the handbrake on to keep the beast from falling over...
Ralf S.
thats fair comment RE grease.
I wouldnt be so sure about the cable though, had to change loads of them over the years and not just cento's. My GT had a seized cable, recently had to change it on my mums mk2 punto as well. In all cases they looked totally fine externally but wouldnt really move once you had them disconnected at both ends... its easy to check anyway so no biggy if its found to be ok, not like you wasted a day lol
I wouldnt be so sure about the cable though, had to change loads of them over the years and not just cento's. My GT had a seized cable, recently had to change it on my mums mk2 punto as well. In all cases they looked totally fine externally but wouldnt really move once you had them disconnected at both ends... its easy to check anyway so no biggy if its found to be ok, not like you wasted a day lol
Little update: I'm getting rear drums from a cinq sx from scrapyards which, I have taken many parts and the car was in good condition, it comes with rear bearings, so I'm gonna start dismantling and then will come back with photos.
Really??? New drums are so cheap. You MUST remove any edge lip, MUST be completely flush.
Then, before assembly expand the shoes on their friction adjusters until the drum just fits over them.
Its impossible to adjust the shoes once the drums are on.
D
I'm talking about the whole rear brake, isn't it called drum?
Yes I changed a Cinq hand brake cable and it made a huge improvement. Like night and day.
Gonna buy one new then
I have done the rear brakes on both my Seicento and 126 Bis (same system) and haven't adjusted the shoes out to the drum on fitting, the friction adjusters are self adjusting if working correctly
I rebuilt my brakes and pumped shoes out with the footbrake pedal
Then with a assistant spun each wheel individually in reverse and had them stamp on footbrake
Same again spin wheel forwards and stamp on brake
Connect handbrake cable and adjust
Both cars flew through MOT and tester actually commented on how good the brakes were for a Fiat
I rebuilt my brakes and pumped shoes out with the footbrake pedal
Then with a assistant spun each wheel individually in reverse and had them stamp on footbrake
Same again spin wheel forwards and stamp on brake
Connect handbrake cable and adjust
Both cars flew through MOT and tester actually commented on how good the brakes were for a Fiat
So you disconnect the cable from the handbrake, spin the wheel and break hard? And then reconnect the cable, and tune the handbrake for how many theeth?
i never worry about how many clicks, adjust it til its starts to drag, back it off in tiny increments until it doesn't drag and leave it there.. Will be properly on in first few clicks properly adjusted
