I have no brakes!

[Chillitt]

well, no back braqkes anyway...
just failed mot on back brakes. just had a look, pads like new, all clean, slave cylinders good and moves when brake pedals pushed. does this mean the load compensator valves had it? how do i test/fix it? oh and could someone please stop it raining every time i get a socket set out? thanks very much

[BUSHWHACKER]

Un-bolt the load compensator from the rear axel and see if the actuator arm moves. It's two m10 bolts if I remember.

[Chillitt]

yep, moves freely. and it rained again.... what next?

[slim]

yep, moves freely. and it rained again.... what next?

i found that the rear brakes dont operate as much as they should. for now ive unbolted the load comp valve arm and positioned it as high as i can and then tested it in the rain and set it so that the front brakes lock up before the rear ones.......they work better than any car ive ever had now....only thing is this arm should be in its fixing position for the mot so got to think of a more perminant position for that..........i could bend the arm more

[Chillitt]

mines got a bit of sag anyway so surely it should be biasing to the rear anyway...?

[slim]

mines got a bit of sag anyway so surely it should be biasing to the rear anyway...?

may be so but i found that it needs a lot of movment before it makes any diffrence to rear braking...

[BUSHWHACKER]

Could be that the rear shoes need adjusting. (Before anyone shouts that they're self adjusting, they can be manually adjusted if required) There should be a rubber bung at the bottom of the backplate. Insert a small screwdriver and turn the star wheel so that the brake shoes move out and touch the drums. While doing this have someone press the brake pedal to centralise the shoes. Adjust the shoes until the rear wheel can't be turned when the padal is released. Then back-off the adjuster until the wheel spins freely.

[Gizmo]

I'd go with Bushwacker on this one, adjust the brakes shoes by the adjuster. You coudl try adjusting with the drum off..more hit and miss or go in from the rubber bung. Might need two Screwdrivers, one to lift the spring off, and another to adjust the adjuster.....I put a diagram on here some time ago with all the components labeled...try search for Brakes.

[Chillitt]

i pulled the bung and it looks a bit fiddly and it started raining again....(soft lad smiley) so i'll have a go on tuesday with the drum off. sounds about right cos the handbrake comes out loads. thanks for the help.

[Vagrant No2]

Make sure you let the handbrake cable right off before you wind up the rear shoes or you will hold the rear most shoe off its stop and wear the rear shoes unevenly . Always adjust the handbrake after you have adjusted to shoes .
My rear shoes were worn because of this .