Technical Uno with good handbrake (at last!!)

[Louie Bee]

As the MOT is looming

The rear brakes have been binding since I tried and totally failed a handbrake turn the other week no real surprise for an Uno.

I jacked up the rear and found no effort at all on the o/s!! so off with the shoes.

Has been about 3 years since last time I tried to remove them. The later Unos are fitted with different shoes, which are not covered by Haynes. The auto adjuster is very different. Unlike most other Unos with the big round type, there is a ratchet mechanism behind the shoe, and a spring loaded leaver to reset the shoe

VS

I worked out that for the ratchet type, one shoe needs to be guided off the handbrake pulley leaver; the other has an extra spring behind it that hooks onto the handbrake pulley leaver. This time I got em off!!

I read ages ago that Fiat Centos suffer from hand brake problems much the same as Unos, and there was a guide outlining exactly what the problem is:- Mild Steal handbrake pulley leavers - the pivot gets rusty and no longer pivots.

The two Centos I have worked on certainly suffered from this, as did my Uno!

After removing the shoes, I found that the unos leavers were that tight, I had to strike the leavers with a hammer to get them round to the right angle to remove them from the car!

I Purchased some new leavers a few years ago, but it turns out they are the wrong type – blooming Fiat Priory Urmston!! No wonder they shut down!!

So I gave them a good clean up, cleaned, oiled and greased the handbrake cable, Cleaned up the shoes and drum and re assembled.

The trick I have picked up is to adjust the shoes into position manually by the shoes adjuster mechanism – with the handbrake cable adjusted all the way OFF, checking the shoes are central before replacing the drum.

Then test the foot brake works. I found jamming a steering lock between the seat and peddle, progressively moving the seat forwards while seeing if the rear wheels have roughly the same brake efficiency on each side seems to work.

When I’m happy with the foot brake, I adjust the handbrake till it’s binding slightly with the leaver off, applying the handbrake a few times as I do, then back off a bit.

So now I have a handbrake with no slack, which locks both wheels on 4 clicks . Sorry no pick of handy work

I think the Unos handbrake cables are easier to work with than one on Centos For a start, you have to remove the exhaust heat shield to get near the one on a Siecento Sporting Grrr!.

 

[alexGS]

Excellent post Louie

I had no idea that the rear brakes were different on later Unos like yours.

I wonder if the lever inside the car still cracks its mountings on the floor?

-Alex

 

[Uno driver]

I did this 5 times (on two Unos, both types of shoes), at first I did it your way (take leavers out), but soon I realised that this takes too much time (and often happens as I use handbrake twice a month), so last 3 times I left leavers where they are, sprayed them with penetrating oil and started moving them (at first with hammer, holding other piece with locking pliers) until they were moving free and then I used a litle of grease. It's fine for two years, than you have to fix it again

As soon as I find some time I have to repair rear cylinders as they are sucking air into brake system when brake is released

 

[giorgetto_uno]

this is great louie

will check my uno rear brakes this weekend

 

[Uno driver]

It's easy to check if leavers are working correctly. Go for a ride ~5km and check if bolts on rear wheels are hot, but be careful not to burn your finger (it happened to me)

 

[Louie Bee]

Cheers Guys!!

Yes it takes loads of time to do it the long way . Best time saver I had this time is a deep reach 13mm socket - way less messing about when adjusting the cable!!

Good idea leaving the leavers in situe, but don't it leave residual penetrating oil too near the drum and shoe? I presume you remove the shoes first Think I'd rather have piece of mind as the extra work is worth it IMO.

Couple of tail tail sines that the leavers are stuck:-
Hand brake isn't springy in travel - it's slack till it goes solid.
Jack up the rear and the wheels don't turn freely with the hand brake off / BOTH lock up with it on - you can make the wheel(s) turn when gripping by hand.
You get that Uno "Donk" sound from the rear on steady bends as the slack cable hits the exhaust (?)

I wouldn’t say my wheels were getting hot. I did check to find out which were binding after 2 miles – so mine weren’t that bad. Think that it was the poor handbrake efficiency that annoyed me most. I’d be happy to park on a hill now

 

[Uno driver]

Mine brakes were always overheating badly due to rusted leaver, once (when I burned my finger) everything was so hot that brake oil was boiling in rear cylinder and brake pedal went to the floor, so I had to pump it several times to stop the car. It was a little scary

Yes I remove shoes before messing around with penetrating oil and before fitting shoes back I wipe everything and grease it where it moves. I didn't have any problems this way, and you don't have to jack up the car, lie under it, release cable etc to get leaver from the drum. Your way (and my previous) takes 2x more time with same effect. Try it next time