Rear brakes overheating

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captain Byrne
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Rear brakes overheating

Post by captain Byrne »

Decided to overhaul all the brakes. Fronts were fine but the rears are proving a tad awkward. No matter how much I slacken the adjuster so there's little or no play, one side seems intent on self-adjusting too tight and inevitably starts getting very hot - to the extent at which it starts failing. Just wondered if anyone has had similar issues & whether there's a fix. The next step I guess is to disable the self-adjustment mechanism (remove the spring) but I'm a bit reluctant to do that at the moment. All the shoes, adjusters, springs etc have been put back correctly & handbrake is slack. New drums & shoes are OEM's from Brickwerks.
Thanks in advance as per usual.

Jawin89
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Re: Rear brakes overheating

Post by Jawin89 »

Have a look at this, it maybe of some help.

http://www.club80-90.co.uk/pages/downlo ... nicals.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
1989 1.9 WBX pop top

Jawin89
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Re: Rear brakes overheating

Post by Jawin89 »

Also have a look at the below found in the Wiki

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Br ... _servicing" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
1989 1.9 WBX pop top

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bigherb
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Re: Rear brakes overheating

Post by bigherb »

Check you have the everything in place correctly. Check the adjusters are on the correct side of the vehicle, Right hand side left hand thread, Left hand side right hand thread. Did you centralize the shoes?

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captain Byrne
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Re: Rear brakes overheating

Post by captain Byrne »

Thanks,
Everything has been put back correctly - identical to pic above. Shoes centralised & pivot areas lightly greased. Have given more play on the adjuster. I'll go for a decent run tomorrow - see what happens.

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bigherb
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Re: Rear brakes overheating

Post by bigherb »

You have put the bottom spring on the wrong way round. Won't cause your problem but it is designed to stop the hand brake cable twisting downwards. The brake shoes are not central and it looks like the adjuster is trapped behind the cross shaft.
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captain Byrne
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Re: Rear brakes overheating

Post by captain Byrne »

Thanks for spotting the bottom spring, I'll sort that. The shoes are central. That pic you're referring to - the shoe got knocked when I was taking pictures, it goes up and central when the hub goes on.
Also, the adjuster isn't trapped, just looks that way, there's plenty of movement.

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Re: Rear brakes overheating

Post by captain Byrne »

Still struggling to fix this if anyone has any ideas?

what2do
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Re: Rear brakes overheating

Post by what2do »

Setting mine up after replacing shoes was a bit odd. They overheated too, the drum would rotate without any grating noise but would overheat, unwound the adjuster one more click and they've been fine since. Not sure what to make of it but I'm not going to worry about it anymore...

Try winding them out a bit more and see what happens.
Why would the glass be anything other than half full?

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Re: Rear brakes overheating

Post by Theclash »

Don't know if this will help you but here was my problem
New shoes everything taken off cleaned greased adjusted how it should be handbrake adjusted
Once on the motorway after 1 hours driving brake fluid would boil ,culprit r/h rear brake my fix would be to jack van up hub off and back the adjuster off more clicks on none existent handbrake but no more boiling fluid
On my next run out in the van I had readjusted the brakes again good foot pedal ,handbrake ok ,and no binding
But same thing happened again :shock: I wound the adjuster back off again low foot brake travel but solved the boiling fluid ,I left the handbrake off and just left it in gear while parked. I did about 200 motorway miles with no overheating brake. Once home back under van and noticed it had had a new handbrake cable before my ownership to the r/h side .
Cut a long story short I put 2 new cables on and it as solved my problem
I imagine the old cable was stretched and needed more travell to lock the wheel on the l/h side meaning the newer shorter cable r/h side was pulling tighter and moving the adjuster
The cables attach to a compansator bar if it's pulling badly to one side when handbrake applied cables could be the cause
I got 2 new cables from euro about £20 so worth changing bit of a bugger getting the old ones to part from the backplate and bit of filling needed to get new ones in
If you decide to do cables jack both sides of the van Up that way when it comes to adjusting the handbrake you can get them roughly the same
Hope this helps or even solves your problem

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captain Byrne
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Re: Rear brakes overheating

Post by captain Byrne »

Cheers theclash,
I think you've nailed it really. It's defo a problem with the handbrake adjuster - whether the cable is snagging somewhere or not pulling properly on one side I don't know. I'm off on holiday in a couple of days & don't have time to replace the cables. I've tied up the adjuster on the offending brake with wire so it can't over-tighten. This works fine as a temporary cure but I'll sort it properly after my hols. In the meantime, here's a pic of the late, great Joe Strummer I took in around 1985 busking in York.. The greatest band ever.. period!

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Theclash
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Re: Rear brakes overheating

Post by Theclash »

WOW .....what a great picture shows joe with all his enthusiasm , top bloke ,there will never be another band with as much energy and passion as the clash
one lucky guy to have been there in York watching joe strummer busking ......very envious
RIP joe strummer

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captain Byrne
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Re: Rear brakes overheating

Post by captain Byrne »

Theclash!
New handbrake cables fitted today & hey presto, all is well again! The old ones were utterly fushagged - one cable completely stuck & the other one hardly any movement at all.
Cheers!
Pete.

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Re: Rear brakes overheating

Post by Theclash »

Great news Pete glad to be of some assistance,
I had the same problem as you and I know how frustrating it is when brakes keep boiling fluid and you keep adjusting rear brakes and can't see anything obvious .

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