rear shoes

[dubslug]

hi there, my handbrake failed its on mot o handbrake, ive had new shoes cylinders bleed handbrake cables etc. my rear brakes passed on mot but bake efficiency was a massive 3 percent. a guy just asked if the shoes are off set or sided, i know where they go but are they interchangeable or does one have to be near side or off side???
or any other ideas please
regards

[faggie]

shoes are same both sides, you need to roughen the inside of brake drum up and chamfer the edges of shoes so the whole shoes is coming into contact with drum

[ELVIS]

Make sure they are adjusted properly chap.

Blatantly ripped from Baxter, other stuff about if you use wiki/search facility.

Brakes.

Poor hand brake, when footbrake is good. Your footbrake is good, the adjustment of your brake shoes and handbrake cable is correct but your handbrake still has excess travel. Worn adjuster bars. If you remove the brake drum there is a bar going between the brake shoes at the top, this has a notched wheel on it, this is turned to move the shoes out to meet the drum. If they are adjusted correctly then all should be well but the handbrake lever end of the adjuster bar wears leaving the handbrake lever having to travel a excessive distance for it to meet the adjuster bar and operate the handbrake. Does that make sense? it does to me.. The solution is to either fit new adjuster bar or file the end of the adjuster bar at the handbrake lever end to reduce the travel. This is only a temporary fix as once filed then they just wear again.

[dubslug]

hi, thanks for the reply, i think shoes are adjusted right as they were good enough for mot... we followed the haynes manual too..
the adjusted rod is free moving and cleaned up, seems to move the shoes okay... i will open up drums tomorrow and see how much pad is being used.
its just odd that if i keep adjusting the handbrake all that happens is the amount of clicks on handle lessens but brake force doesnt increase