Club 80-90 Forums

I've rebuilt my rear brakes, new back plates, cylinders, shoes, spring hardware. Old adjusters, but everything cleaned up. 

After bleeding and winding out the adjusters to the point where the wheels are noticeably binding on both sides I'm still getting a bit more brake free travel than was there before (the whole system has new fluid and been bled, front calipers have new seals, master seems ok, the pedal isn't spongy and doesn't sink) and the handbrake has very little effect, far worse than it used to be.

How can this be?  I've not touched the cable adjustment, and the new shoes are virtually the same pad thickness as the old ones, they'd barely been used, I was only changing because the cylinders had leaked and soaked them while the van was dormant.

I read in the Wiki about some cylinders not having internal springs, I've not checked the new ones (Pagid) but the old ones (also Pagid) didn't have springs so no change there either.  Have double checked the adjuster positioning all looks good/right way round etc.

I'd rather not adjust the cables before understanding why the travel is so excessive, any ideas, or is it just a case of getting the new pads to bed in a bit? (can't take it for a drive at the moment, no MOT)

When you do the adjuster winding out did you pull the handbrake up two notches first then do it?

Stesaw wrote: ↑20 Aug 2022, 21:01 When you do the adjuster winding out did you pull the handbrake up two notches first then do it?

No, I just left the handbrake off. I can rewind them and give it another try tomorrow  How would that make a difference though?  
 

If I recall right you are meant to slacken off the handbrake cable balance bar when fitting new pads, did you do that as well?
There are two brake systems on the back as you know, the cable handbrake and the hydraulic system. Both need adjusting with the cog to make sure they come into contact. I suppose if you've pumped the pedal a few times it will open the cylinder and its not reset because you haven't started/drove it so it's already opened them out, at least that's how mine behave.
When finishing work on my rear brakes, I always have the handbrake up two notches when the drums are back on and adjust from there til they start to bind, fitting new cables might only need one click as they won't be worn. never pump the brakes before putting the drum back on.. it's very messy if you do 

Do you have a haynes or bentley should be in there how to all do it reet 

E D I T.

From an old post

It was a piece of cake getting the adjustment right this evening, now that I realise the initial adjustment needs to be much tighter than I first had it. I backed the handbrake balance bar right off, adjusted the shoes up, then reset the handbrake so that it started to bite on the second notch. The footbrake pedal feels better, and the handbrake holds the van against reverse gear pretty well too.

Thanks - yep have Haynes to work from.  When I put it all back together initially I wasn't anticipating problems so just wound the adjusters out a bit, popped the drums on the pumped the brakes.  After a while I could hear the occasional "tink!" from the adjusters as they opened out further and the pedal got better but was still giving a lot of travel, so I resorted to trying to manually wind them out a little more.

I'll go back over it all and do everything by the book!

Wound both sides back a bit, and let them slowly readjust themselves gently pushing the pedal. Perhaps they centralised better this time as I ended up with little pedal travel with the wheels still freely rotating. Handbrake then adjusted til just binding on 2nd click

Everything seems to be much better now