Thread: Olute finds a new home

Ok, it's been bit quiet on the Ol'ute front lately so a bit of an update and a question or two on brakes.

Haven't done much work, as you can see by the 2 months gap. The seats are off with the upholsterer - who lives near Marysville. I was a bit worried that they may have been incinerated in the bushfires , but luckily they are OK. The upholsterer, however, has lost a couple of sheds and has been very busy with other bushfire clean up priorities, so I have told him not to hurry.

Meanwhile back in the shed.

Today we (Sleepy's Old Man and I) had a go a bleeding the brakes. Mmmmm. We bled and bled but no good. Brake peddle still goes 80% in and still needs to be pumped to get some firmness.
When we clamped the rear brakes off and everything was FIRM, so we figure there still must be some air down the back. More bleeding and adjusting....still no luck. Any idea on what to look at next - I would appreciate it.
There doesn't appear to be any leaks so not sure what is going on.

Front brakes were not as we expected. They appear to have dual wheel cylinders (see photo) with a different adjustment bolts (x2) - I was expecting single cylinders like the rear (and as indicated in the manual) Cant find reference to dual wheel cylinders - is that Series 2/3 stuff???


Front NS Wheel taken from the rear of axle.

Hey mate

I only just saw your thread

I want one of those Series I's there is one for sale in original condition but I just cant get hold of the owner

I think I almost prefer them to an 80'

And that thing you said in the first post about being tailgated by a Series I, well..... I know the feeling

Originally Posted by Sleepy

.......
Meanwhile back in the shed.

Today we (Sleepy's Old Man and I) had a go a bleeding the brakes. Mmmmm. We bled and bled but no good. Brake peddle still goes 80% in and still needs to be pumped to get some firmness.
When we clamped the rear brakes off and everything was FIRM, so we figure there still must be some air down the back. More bleeding and adjusting....still no luck. Any idea on what to look at next - I would appreciate it.
There doesn't appear to be any leaks so not sure what is going on.
.................

I seem to recall with some of the Series vehicles (not sure if it applied to the Series I though) that there was a problem when bleeding the brakes due to the angle of the master cylinder. Air used to get trapped in there and could only be bled out by either a pressure bleed of by jacking the front of the vehicle about 3' off the ground.

Someone more familiar with the Series vehicles will no doubt either confirm of deny this.

Roger

Originally Posted by Xtreme

I seem to recall with some of the Series vehicles (not sure if it applied to the Series I though) that there was a problem when bleeding the brakes due to the angle of the master cylinder. Air used to get trapped in there and could only be bled out by either a pressure bleed of by jacking the front of the vehicle about 3' off the ground.

Yeah, I read that in the manual too. But when we clamped off the rear end and it the brakes became firm -- the assumption we made was that the air is in the rear end somewhere. May need to try that next though.

Originally Posted by Jock The Rock

I think I almost prefer them to an 80'

And that thing you said in the first post about being tailgated by a Series I, well..... I know the feeling

Well there you go Jock - I have been following your adventures too.
I've just bought a 109 S3 so I'm also planning to work up my expedition vehicle too! Looked very closely at a Defender 110 hardtop like yours but like the idea of a S3!

Yes I love the 107".......but wouldn't mind a 80 also.....

Ahhh, you can never have too many Land Rovers!

Hi Sleepy - I had this problem with my very first series 1 and more recently my 101.

You need to check that there is enough meat on the brake shoes - if it is low compared to the dia of the drum then the first pump of pedal the just moves the shoes out to the drum and then the second works - mimics air in the system.

Now - you may have new shoes but the drums may be into oversize territory. On my series 1 I bought new shoes and had the problem and after a lot of research at the time I put in oversize shoes and problem fixed.

With my 101 I bought oversize shoes to go on but still could not get a good pedal and the drums were just within on on the limit. A new set of drums and all was OK - I must have put through about 10 litres of brake fluid over 2 weeks trying to get rid of the imaginary air in the system.

Cheers

Garry

Good advice from Garry.

Try also stamping on the pedal as hard as you can when you bleed it. I have had three successes with this method on a 2a and two S3's,

Cheers Charlie

Hi, what cond are the rubber flexable brake lines in? the reason I ask is with my old series 1 109" I had the same problem, thought there was air still in the system. Got it preasure bleed and still no better. Then while I was bleeding the rear wheel cyls, I could feel the rubber lines expanding and contracting when the pedal was pushed in and out. Put in new rubber lines and problem solved. Might be worth have a look at your rubber flexi lines.