Thread: Brake Adjustment

Actually - should probably be a bit more specific and say '35 year old Land Rover brakes' (had plenty of experience with classic cars in general).

It will depend to some extent on whether it has dual circuit of single circuit hydraulics - the single circuit seem to give less trouble with bleeding.

Assuming that the braking system is in good condition, there should be no problems in adjusting the brakes. However, satisfactory adjustment will not be possible if there is any air in the system.

If there are problems bleeding the system try clamping off all three hoses, and release one at a time to confirm there is no spring left in the pedal (with hoses clamped there should be a completely solid pedal. Do not be afraid to bleed at all joints if necessary as well as the bleeders. Best results will be obtained if the brake adjusters are right off when bleeding, to minimise the space in the cylinders.
Having said this, though, I have never had any problems bleeding these brakes.

When adjusting them, watch for the possibility that the adjusters are either seized, have the serrations worn off, or the snails are loose on the shaft. In any of these cases, adjustment is impossible. You can get new adjusters.

As usual, excessively worn drums or linings will prevent adjustment, as will seized wheel cylinders or contaminated linings. If you have any doubts at all, I would be inclined to jack up all four corners and remove the drums for inspection before starting, and replace wheel cylinders, linings etc as needed. As well as inspecting the master cylinder and plumbing for leaks.

In my experience, these brakes are quite easy to work on and work well if all bits are in good shape. Adjustment is needed however at every service, which comes as a bit of a surprise to anyone used to self adjusting discs!

John

The pedal feels solid but the travel is long - seems like maladjusted / worn shoes - it pulls up pretty straight too.

An inspection sounds a good idea - at least it will put my mind at ease if nothing else.

Originally Posted by T34

The pedal feels solid but the travel is long - seems like maladjusted / worn shoes - it pulls up pretty straight too.

An inspection sounds a good idea - at least it will put my mind at ease if nothing else.

Sounds like the brakes are good - as you say, that sounds like they just need adjusting; as I said, you need to adjust them every service. But pulling the drums off to have a look is worth doing if you are new to the vehicle to check the state of the shoes and drums and make sure all the adjusters work properly.

It is possible, but unlikely that the free play on the pedal push rod is too great, but this is easy to check (I have known the lock nut to come loose).

John

Cheers, Good tip - I will check this out too.

While we're on the topic of series III brakes, I'll just throw a question in here too

Does anyone know what the thickness of a new brake lining is? I've checked the linings on the two front brakes and they seem to be fine (still about 5mm left). But when I try to tension them out using the adjuster bolt to maximum, they are still moveable by hand. So to me this spells either a) the linings are quite worn (which seems strange as there are no rivets visible and I would have thought 5mm is sufficient for the time being) or b) the drums have worn a hell of a lot

There are no signs of any fluid intrusion either, and I blew a load of compressed air in them as there was a LOT of dust in there. I was told when I bought the vehicle that it hadn't seen a lot of action for many years, so can they deteriorate with time/lack of use to a certain degree?

Cheers, Will

The linings should at least be as thick as the metal of the shoe, though the brakes will work and be adjustable until worn right down to the metal. Perhaps your drums are worn out, or maybe machined out. I had a drum on my Forward Control which was so worn that when I hit it firmly with a hammer to get it off the thing actually dented! Useless even before I got to it, only good for a paperweight (and conversation point) now.

Dan.
69 2a 88" pet4, 74 3 109" pet4, 68 2b FC pet6.

I've had a couple of landy's and no two systems ever seem to bleed the same. One I had took a few pumps of the pedal crack the nipple and all done. The one I have now didn't want to play the game at all. So the dont argue method was used the "air bleeder" one lap round the car all done.
Back to the other landy, I decided to treat the brakes as I would a truck braking system, all drums and shoes off and down to the brake shop to have the shoes radius ground. It is important to keep all the shoes and drums as a matched set at each corner when doing this. The added cost is well worth it I reckon 20-30% better performance from the non boosted brake system.
If anyone wants to borrow the air bleeder let me know.