Brake Problem

[meerkatmag]

Hi all,
have had endless trouble with my rear drum brakes. A garage recently tried and failed to get the drums off and after giving it back to me (unfixed) it now has a really bad judder on braking that wasn't there before. My foot visibly moves up and down on the pedal it's that bad! I clamped the rear brake lines to check if it was front/rear problem and the judder went away but I noticed that the brake force on the front was very low, it was quite hard to stop the van using only the front brakes. Does that sound like the balance is set wrong or would you expect the majority of braking to be from the rear? The front has discs so I would have thought it would be doing a good amount of the braking.

In terms of fixing it, I've found someone who has agreed to look at it so hopefully he can get the drums off and put new shoes/etc on, might need new drums I guess if they're warped. Just wondered about the balancing for now.

Cheers! Transit mk3 1988 - 190 twin rear wheel.

[dumper]

What was it in for on the twin wheeler to replace the shoes / wheel cylinder / oil seal bearings and handbrake cable its better to remove the half shaft and the outer bearing and pull the hub off as a complete unit if changing the drums in the past I have had to press them off .If it didn’t have any brake juddering before they may have done some damage trying to get them off.The only other problem I’ve had with the rear brakes is on my mk3 the load sensing valve seized up inside and had very little force at the rear and would lock up the front brakes at normal stoping .If the drums look ok and are going to be reused grind the lip off the outer edge before refitting.

[meerkatmag]

It was in because the rear drums were getting seized sometimes, so at lights the brakes wouldn't release and when i drove away it would jump forward and release suddenly. I think the shoes are still the original ones, so over 30 years old! thought it would be worth replacing them.

And yeah I think they may have damaged them, they said they were hitting it with a hammer for a few hours but couldn't get the drums off!

Don't think the load sensing is seized as the rear brakes are stopping the van well just with a judder.

[dumper]

I’d mentioned everything else that can go wrong apart from master cylinder and pipe work so I thought I throw that in as its the only thing that can happen to the rear brakes when you get it stripped down I’d replace shoes cylinders brake return springs hand brake cables hud seals clean and examine the wheel bearings if worn replace so it’s all good for years to come you don’t want to put it back together and have to strip it again in a year or two

[Chug]

It sounds like they were trying to hammer the drums off without loosening the adjusters, if they hammered for an hour they could have bent one, or both of the drums.

[gotgcoalman]

Screwdriver through the inspection hole in the back plate and release the "self adjuster"
I've done the remove the half shaft as well in stubborn situations.
Bit messy and smelly,
Could also drill the retaining/hold down pin heads off so the shoes are free to move within the drums and remove the drum.

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[meerkatmag]

It sounds like they were trying to hammer the drums off without loosening the adjusters, if they hammered for an hour they could have bent one, or both of the drums.

Yep I think you're right. So annoying, it's getting harder and harder to find garages that know how to work on it. I'm doing most jobs myself now but wary of taking this on in case I can't finish the job.

Hopefully I can't find someone to do it for me!
Cheers

[dumper]

It’s possible that they have moved the drums slightly on one side of the studs so the drum is crooked and not gone back on square when the wheels have been refitted .

[gotgcoalman]

judder can also be due to wheel nuts done up too tight with the garage rattle gun.



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[meerkatmag]

Thanks all for the ideas! I might take the wheels off make sure the drums are straight and torque the bolts properly. Then off to someone who knows what they're doing

Cheers all

[dumper]

If they have moved them with that much hammering you may not get them to go back and will have to remove them and clean everything up and then put it all back together. Twin wheel transits have always been bad for getting the drums off when over 3 or so years old if they have not been off for even longer will be almost impossible to just knock off .
If I was doing one today I’d remove the hub and drum as a complete unit.