Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all, as usuak i am stumped! I failed the irish M.O.T on gearbox mount bushing.Which I have fixed but the tester told me he may fail me when I do the retest on a rusty back left handbrake cable (passenger side). So I am changing it as I have the time etc.

Took off the wheel and trying to get off the drum but it is not moving. Have given it a good few belts of a hammer and there is no loosening of It. Reading the hayne's book it talks about taking out a plug on the back plate and then turning the adjuster. Where the brake line comes in at the 12 o clock position there is a little bleed screw above it and to the left of it there is a hole. Is that where I do the adjusting from to loosen the drum?

Also on the balance bar where the 2 handbrake cables come off, the nut is fairly stuck on the threaded rod any suggestions for getting it off as when I try to turn it now it twists the threaded bar and so no movement of the nut.

Hope someone can help as usual. I must also buy that adjuster screwdriver thing I suppose.

You don't need a special screwdriver for this, just a sturdy (and possibly short) ordinary flat blade type. Remove the plug, and shine a torch onto the hole. You may need some yoga lessons before this, but it is doable. What you are looking for is a toothed wheel. You can actually feel it with the tip of the screwdriver with gentle probing. This wheel, when turned, moves the brake shoes away from the drum. With a new set of shoes and drums this would be unnecessary, most likely, but when the parts have worn in against each other a lip develops on the inner edge of the drum, preventing easy removal of the outer case.

I forget which way the toothed wheel has to turn on that particular side to back the shoes off - turn it a few notches at a time with the screwdriver blade and check the movement of the drum... if it's locking the wheel up, then you need to turn the other way. Once you've got to the limit of the notched wheel's travel, you can attempt to remove the drum. When I did it (on pretty worn brakes), I found that the belting-with-the-mallet method wasn't that productive: it's more a question of sort of 'shuffling' it off over the worn lip/ridge.

Regards the brake balancer: devise a way (an assistant?) of holding the central bar while you turn the nut. The balancing mechanism should always be greased. If the previous owner didn't do it, you'll find a lot of benefit come next MOT if you start this time.

Hope it goes ok.

The toothed wheel. Upwards on both sides moves pads in. So turn them up in your case to move them in and aid the removal of the hub. When you put hubs back on turn the adjuster down as much as you can, the wheels shouldn't turn at this point. Then adjust it up 1-2 turns only, so they don't bind. Your brakes are now set. Haynes has a good write up on adjusting the handbrake cable if required, section 10.1


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Cheers for the reply's lads, got distracted with a separate issue so will be coming back to this, this week. Appreciate the help