Technical ugly ducklings brake saga

[levemircento]

Re: Handbrake not very good

I suppose this is one good reason for rear discs, no such problems....

Ooo dunno!! I have had numerous cars with rear disks and they have always been poor effort at holding on a slope, even with new discs and pads, the worst culprits were 2L dohc sierra, and pug 405 td

 

[Advanced Driver]

Re: Handbrake not very good

Broken record alert for this subject, do you have the correct cable?

Go to Fiat ask to see all the cables they have for a Sei, pick the shortest one.

Liam

lol yes, I think it's the correct one. I've replaced a drum now and the handbrake seems to work a lot better, when I do the other (tomorrow) it will probably work correctly.

 

[Advanced Driver]

Replacing brake shoes

I did this last night, but I didn't do it how the workshop manuals told me to do it. What the workshop manual was says seemed to be a lot more difficult to me. You're supposed to take the bottom spring off first, but it's also the stiffest, so it is a lot easier to do the top one first. I also couldn't do the bottom one with pliers, they don't grip very well and it is too hard to pull. In the end I levered the shoe in/out with the spring already on.

Is there a special tool for these springs, how do you guys do it?

 

[fingers99]

Re: Replacing brake shoes

Is there a special tool for these springs, how do you guys do it?

It can be bloody difficult, even dangerous. The best tool for the job is an old, but stout flat head screwdriver with a V cut or ground in the face. Moles are usually better than pliers, too.

 

[fingers99]

Re: Handbrake not very good

our SAAB handbrake goes up about 5 clicks i think ?

Yeah. SAAB are notorious not for having dodgy handbrakes, but ones which take a lot of clicks. Thus, it's not unknown for them to fail MOTs even with good handbrakes..............

 

[randomizered]

Re: Replacing brake shoes

I made one of these that seemed to work well

Always wear eye protection when messing with those springs

Cheers,


Kristian

 

[99sei]

Re: Replacing brake shoes

I made one of these that seemed to work well

Always wear eye protection when messing with those springs

Cheers,


Kristian

did you take the bearing off to do your brakes? or was that an after pic?

 

[randomizered]

Re: Replacing brake shoes

No, I never took the bearing off, just the drum and thats it. Was a pig of a job, but will be much easier next time

Kristian

 

[Advanced Driver]

Drums rubbing

I've just changed my drums, and shoes and they are rubbing. I did over 400 miles yesterday so I would have thought they would have run-in by now. With 200 mile motorway trips I got 44mpg, and I usually get > 55mpg .

The handbrake cable, and the linkages are relative new, and they seem to move freely. Any ideas what the problem could be?

 

[fingers99]

Re: Drums rubbing

Either the shoes are not centred properly or the linkeages are moving freely only over part of their travel and thus holding the brake on.

First, try driving in reverse at about 5mph and yanking the handbrake on. This will usually centre the shoes.

 

[Advanced Driver]

Re: Drums rubbing

Either the shoes are not centred properly or the linkeages are moving freely only over part of their travel and thus holding the brake on.

First, try driving in reverse at about 5mph and yanking the handbrake on. This will usually centre the shoes.

Thanks for the help, but it hasn't solved the problem . I've tried putting the handbrake on going forwards, and back, both fast and slow, but it doesn't seem to do much. The handbrake is pretty rubbish, so even when I do yank it on I doesn't do much and I certainly don't feel the jolt that I would expect when stopping.

I had a good look at a wheel, spinning it in the air, today. It seems to be rubbing in one or two places. It's spins freely mostly, but when it reaches a couple of points it rubs. If I hit the drum with a hammer in the correct places I can get it to spin freely, but then when I put the handbrake on and take it off it rubs somewhere again. The handbrake linkage does release fully (and definately isn't siezed).

Just a recap:
Brand new brake drums, and shoes
Last year I renewed the handbrake linkages and cable.
Handbrake is rubbish, and new shoes/drums rub slightly.