Well, I've been around vehicles and repairing them for a good while, but I've never seen one like this before.

Last week, the handbrake cable snapped when I pulled a bit harder than normal, which was due to it not feeling "right", so I got one, and crawled around under the vehicle and fitted it, no hassles to do it, other than having to take the exhaust shield off to get to the adjuster, and it all seemed to be working OK,

Did a few other jobs on it and took it in for the NCT this morning, and one item failed it, rear brake imbalance, on the hydraulic side, which surprised me more than a little, the handbrake passed, so at least the new cable sorted things some.

Took the drum off this evening, and then got my wife out to press gently on the pedal, and to my surprise, the rear shoe wasn't moving at all. Blocked the front shoe, and got her to try again, and despite serious pressure on the pedal, no movement at all, and it was fairly evident from the state of the shoe that it's not been applying much brake for a while. Same side as the handbrake cable failed, which might be a factor.

However. Took the shoes off, and tried again, and still no movement on the cylinder. Eventually, took a hammer to the piston to force it to move, having tried more gentle forms of persuasion up to that point. It eventually freed up, and moves again, but in close on 40 years of working on brakes and other things, I've never seen a slave cylinder so badly seized as this one was.

In view of that, the plan is to replace both cylinders, and also put new shoes on just in case, which should at least ensure that the balance between the axles is acceptable.

The only thing I'm not sure about.

How are the adjusters actually adjusted on this vehicle, there's no evidence of any way of moving the adjusters, or is it just a case of using a "suitable" lever to force the adjuster across the surface of the shoe, or is it in fact self adjusting by virtue of being pushed on the shoe if the adjuster hits the post in the backplate.

I've seen the view hole in the drum, so I'm assuming that is used to see if the shoe is in the right place, and I'm aware of making sure that the "wear ridge" on the edge of the drum is removed to allow for maximum setting, but the precise manner of setting seems very vague.

Any comments or suggestions appreciated.

Thanks

Steve

Irish Steve said:

How are the adjusters actually adjusted on this vehicle

Click to expand...

Lever the shoes out until the drum ONLY JUST clears.

Ok, so it is that vague an adjustment, effectively a bit hit and miss in comparison to the "normal" adjuster concept.

OK, looks like one side of a large spanner will be called for to "persuade" it to move in the correct direction.

At least I have an explanation for the brake imbalance, which is better than having to go through everything and not finding anything that is certain as a reaon for the problem. Now all I need is for the weather to behave itself tomorrow.

Thanks for the feedback