what condition are your drums and shoes in?

 

had a suziki once with drums on the front

did the right thing, had the drums machined and bought new linings

no matter what I did the damn thing would always pull to one side

eventually pulled everything apart and measured

one drum oversize one drum double oversize standard linings

 

right ok

Car doesn't pull to any side, the brakes don't apply hard enough to do that.

 

Drums were inspected at the brake place, didn't need machining.

 

Shoes, brake cylinders are brand new, been in the car for a few weeks. I would think the shoes would be worn in by now, been driving around with the handbrake on and off a fair bit. Using the footbrake the car stops fine, but that's probably because my front brakes are ridiculously large.

 

Handbrake mechanism and cable *appear* to be fine. Feels similar to the one in Pinky, Paul (mumblezz) had a feel on Sunday at the khanacross, he recons it feels fine too (just doensn't seem to bite). Have loosened the handbrake lever, tightened it, same thing, still doesn't work properly.

 

It will hold the car on most slopes, although on steeper ones I have to REALLY pull on the handbrake to get it to hold, but won't apply enough force to stop the car, or lock up the wheels, even on gravel (khanacross).

Out of interest, is there *any* way I could have stuffed up the install of the drum brakes that they aren't self-energising anymore? The shoes are on the correct way around (leading and trailng), or at least according to Wayne Daniels they are :) The brake shop (ABS) also checked out the mechanisms and they said it all looked fine.

are the shoes machined to suit the drums

 

when I dismantled the suzi I found the shoes were only wearing in the middle.

less contact area on one side resulted in the pulling which in your case is irrelevant.

 

are your shoes wearing evenly over the pad material or just in one spot.

Not sure, will check when I pull the drums off. Away this weekend, might try for next weekend. Or maybe tomorrow night if I feel a bit better (not at 100% health at the moment :) )

with regard to the installation of the shoes, a silly question.

 

have you a workshop manual, they usually show you in there.

 

What do you mean about self energising?

 

have a think about how the mechanism works, two shoes pushed apart by an hydraulic cylinder ( in good condition I hope ).

 

or , again pushed apart, by a bell crank via your handbrake cable.

 

we will leave out the self adjusters for now ( a basic ratchet mechanism).

 

start with the cable, is it secured properly along it's length, I mean in it's original bracket and clips etc. toyota put them there for a reason.

 

remove a drum and see if it's all working ( just don't let anyone stick their hoof on the brake pedal while the drum is off)

 

If the cable and everything else is in good condition I reckon it will be drums and shoes.

 

It's not that complicated.

 

Although, vehicle is named 'HAL'.

 

What have you done to him Stanley.

Yes, shoes are correct as per workshop manual. They were initially the wrong way around (Andrew put them in at first) but that was very quickly noticed by Wayne while we were putting it all together in Robs garage.

 

Self-energising: Not 100% certain, have heard it mentioned a few times. Basically as the drum rotates it pulls the shoe tighter against it and amplifies the force, looking at the Corolla setup it looks like the forward shoe is self-energising and the rear is trailing. Or something, I'm not sure.

 

And yes, have thought about how the mechanism works, it really isn't very complex, I'm all out of ideas. The hydrolic cylinder is brand new, should be good. Have tested the handbrake lever and cable, and yes it does pull at the shoes (or at least it makes the self adjusters click over when the drums aren't on)

 

Cable is secured everywhere except for 1 point on 1 cable where the securing bolt snapped and I can't get it out, so it's cable tied in place.

 

Shoes are new, drums are *apparently* alright and within wear limits.

 

Something must be wrong somewhere in that equation, but I don't know where. All of the above was tested by ABS when I sent the car in too (and they even charged me for it), and all given the OK.

 

I'll pop a drum off when I get some time and have another look.

still reckon why stuff around with cable and not make hyd.

 

got a welder

 

know of anyone with a landrover

 

little bit of magic and shazzam

 

a rear end that locks up at the flick of a lever

I know someone with a Landrover, but no can't have his master cylinder :) And yes, do want to go hydrolic, just money and time! Am intending to build a separate lever for the hydrolic handbrake, keep the mechanical one as it is.

money - approx $100

 

time - 1/2 day

So quick and cheap you recon? Hmm... Will think about it more...

Pulled off the drums last night and had a quick look, the shoes appear to be biting on about 75% of the pad area, so looks like a little more wearing in to go. Gave it all a good clean and put it all back together, working a tad better again.

 

Have been looking at the tranny tunnel and thinking about where I could mount the hydrolic handbrake... Not very sure at the moment.

Might it be fixed? ;)

 

Well, maybe. For the first time ever, I locked up 1 wheel, TWICE! Both times the right wheel :)

 

Still majorly difficult to do, but the handbrake actually feels a lot better now, feels a lot more like Pinky.

 

So, what was different? Umm... Not sure really. The only thing I can think of is that this time apart from filing the shoes down, cleaning the lot and readjusting (they were a bit glazed) I also got the big screwdriver out and reset the handbrake lever inside, pulled it all the way back till it wouldnt' go anymore. Now I've got almost no handbrake cable IN the car, the nut is almost at the end of it :dance: Seems to have done *something*. Still can't lock it up whenever I want or anything, have to really try very hard, but hey it's a shiteload better than it was :)

 

Out of curiosity - do you grease/oil the mechanism at all? Cause well... Brake cleaner is like degreaser and cleans the shoes and stuff, but the mechanism gets rather tight from the lack of grease/oil, but putting grease/oil in there seems a little silly cause it would make the shoes less effective? How do you make sure the grease stays there and doesn't go anywhere?

I'm confused as to how a hydro handbrake works....

 

how do you stop the brake fluid just flooding into the handbrake resivior when you put your foot on the brake??

and another thing....why does the handbrake only brake only the back wheels and not all the wheels?