HAND BRAKE.....hopeless

[bl52krz]

Are the shoes contaminated?

[Number 6]

Originally Posted by bl52krz

Are the shoes contaminated?

As a result of the problem I have had with a Sh1t hand brake I came to the conclusion that the H/B shoes that I purchased were of an inferior quality.

So i have bit the bullet and purchased a completely new set up, Disc's,Pad's and shoes. Courtesy of Matt.

Hopefully, it will resolve the problem.

I will let them bed in and report back.

[Mike Trident]

I keep reading things on the internet and feel rather guilty at times. Why? Because I have a perfectly working handbrake that would hold the car on the side of Everest.
Not my doing, it was like this two years ago when I bought it.

[Arctic]

John number 6 should have the SSC already fitted to his car, it was fitted at the Nano meet, so his new discs pad & shoe set up should see him with a good handbrake, I have known some shoes not to hold for one reason or another.

[Number 6]

Originally Posted by Arctic

John number 6 should have the SSC already fitted to his car, it was fitted at the Nano meet, so his new discs pad & shoe set up should see him with a good handbrake, I have known some shoes not to hold for one reason or another.

Yes indeed it does have your modified compensator,fitted by your good self.

As I have only just fitted the new parts I will give them time to bed in a little but first impressions are good.

[roverbarmy]

You want to try an old Landy with the prop brake-they make you seasick!

[rab60bit]

I fitted new OEM discs and pads about 2 years back (the old discs were worn, lipped and markedly grooved). The hand brake shoes were not in great condition showing slightly uneven wear but they were retained and got a thorough clean/soaking with brake cleaner and I renewed the pins/springs with OEM parts and fitted a brand new mini compensator (IMHO the best value for money upgrade of all for our cars) before putting the brakes back together. The fulcrum arm pins/shoe necks were copper slipped (just a smidging) and I then followed the adjustment routine with a couple of additions - when close to getting the final adjustment rotate (twirl) the wheels clockwise by hand and pull (you'll need an assistant doing the pulling) the hand brake 'on' to centralise the shoes and as mentioned earlier, give the drums a couple of light taps with a soft mallet. Make the very final adjustments on the adjuster so the drum can just about be rotated by hand (I used a lever by locking a 15" long HD screwdriver between one of the wheel studs and the outside of the drum) and then slack-off the adjuster one notch only. Do the 'final, final' adjustment at least a couple of times (using the soft knocking stick approach) and ensure each wheel is treated the same (in turn, adjustment by adjustment NOT one side and then the other).

I got to the 3 notch handbrake grab then and I'm on 4 notches now.
Like the thoughts of other OP's, hand brake shoe wear should be minimal if used properly (as oppossed to 'correctly') and as in all braking/CoF discussions, remember that the area of contact of the friction surfaces has nothing to do with the friction qualities but more to do with materials wear and dissipation of heat. The hand brake is almost a completely static application so wear is insignificant and heat non-existant and because of the single 'leading' shoe geometry only a fraction (approx. 15%, some of which is due to surface distortion) of the 'leading' portion of the whole area of the shoe is in contact with the drum.
Those of us who champion the "run it for 50M" or "hand brake turn" brigade will extend that 15% contact to perhaps 18-20% but theory tells us the stopping (actually, holding) power should not be significantly improved since this is a direct function of CoF/mu between the two interacting surfaces i.e. cast iron drum and shoe friction material. The leading shoe (that is the left hand shoe as viewed on the N/S arrangement) has a self-servo action with the rotating drum if the car were to try and move backwards and so tries to 'grab'/wedge the drum; the harder the hand brake is applied the more the grab effect. If the vehicle were to try and roll forwards the RH shoe would effect the 'grab'. The whole brake assembly effectively has limited 'float' within the drum.
I guess persitant iron oxide (rust) impregnation of the friction material will eventually adversely effect the mu value so regular shoe removal, scrub -up with brake cleaner and re-adjustment would maintain hand brake efficiency.

[Number 6]

Originally Posted by roverbarmy

You want to try an old Landy with the prop brake-they make you seasick!

yes, I had one with the transmission Brake real see-saw motion.

[Scoobydodad]

Hi the 75 rear brakes are influenced to much by BMW, they should have used the rear brake system as the old 800, anyhow I recently had the same problem as you, I fitted new discs/pads/shoes and modified compensator from Arctic, I must have adjusted mine dozens of times to get it right you have to keep doing it there's a fine line until you get it just, I did mine and breaks are now perfect, its all trial/error.

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by Scoobydodad

Hi the 75 rear brakes are influenced to much by BMW, they should have used the rear brake system as the old 800, anyhow I recently had the same problem as you, I fitted new discs/pads/shoes and modified compensator from Arctic, I must have adjusted mine dozens of times to get it right you have to keep doing it there's a fine line until you get it just, I did mine and breaks are now perfect, its all trial/error.

Sorry, I do not agree. The handbrake had just one issue, the stretching compensator, plus poor adjustment technique.



I soon sorted out my 75's handbrake, when I realised the compensator stretch was a problem and worked out the fix that. I read lots of advice about how to set it up, the technique, including the workshop manuals and arrived at a conclusion that they were quite simply wrong.



I carried out the modification I devised seven years ago, set it up my own way and it has been absolutely fine ever since. I have though carried out a readjustment once since then.


I explained how to do all of this years ago.