brakes

[rreems]

Hi all,
My Moggie has just passed it"s MOT, Yes!! But one recurring comment from the examiner, who's really sympathetic to classics, is the brakes. He says there's a little too much pedal travel. I have replaced all the shoes, and cylinders and adjusted them correctly, the drums look really good with no real wear, and still have too much free travel in the pedal. All that said, I'd like to upgrade the front with discs but at £400 + postage for a Grumpy setup that's a lot of dosh! Isn't there a source for second hand kits that you could overhaul to keep the costs more reasonable? Any thoughts or advice would be very welcomed

Regards

Richard

[Nickol]

You do not mention which model you have and by all accounts the earlier 7" front drum Brakes are not as powerful as the later 8". Our late Roy Allington wrote in the Forum many times that properly adjusted drum Brakes on a Minor are more than adequate and that disc Brakes, for anything other than minors fitted with say, a 1275 midget engine, are not necessary.

Personally I have found that it is actually quite difficult to set the brake adjusters and this is the number one cause of excessive foot brake travel. It is mentioned that they should be set such that the wheels cannot turn and then release one notch. However, due to perhaps uneven wear or slightly oval drums, this is not quite so easy to determine.

I like to adjust up until the drums ( without the wheel in place) are difficult to turn by Hand even though they are indeed rubbing. On the fronts, you do this for each adjuster, for the rears only once. It is often the rears which are the Problem with adjustmeent leading to excessive foot brake Lever travel. The correct way is to jack the car such that both rear wheels are free, release the handbrake ( if at all in doubt, temp disconnect the handbrake cable) and adjust as described. Afterwards the handbrake can also be adjusted from inside the car such that both rear wheels brake evenly when operating the lever.

This all assumes that the brake pads are in good conditions and that the (rear) cylinders are free to move in the backplate.

It seems to be generally accepted in the Forum that Mintex shoes are the ones to use.

[Trickydicky]

Check that the adjustment of the pedal is correct, it should be set to 3/4" free play at the top of the travel. If you have replaced the MC then it may not have been reset correctly.

[philthehill]

See my post:-

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=66920

[rreems]

Hi Phil

I have a 1968 4 door minor. I assume these are 7inch drums? I have replaced all the brake shoes and wheel cylinders/ slave cylinders, with pattern shoes. I haven't changed the drums they look pretty good! I've rebuilt the master cylinder. I adjusted each drum till they were locked then backed off the adjuster one notch, until they dragged. I have checked the pedal adjustment at the master cylinder and it has free play of about an inch, not sure what else to do, although when mot'd the guy said they worked well on the rolling Rd and are ok! Thanks phil

[Nickol]

On a 68 minor you should have 8" on the front and 7" rear.

My Brakes on my 69 Traveller are similar to yours in that a short double braking movement is Needed to give the Feeling of solid braking power. Like yourself, have all new components installed. and the tester said the Brakes were tip top with front values equally of 300 and rear at 100.

Having done all new work , you probably have completely new fluid in the System but it is also possible that some air is still in the System. I suspect that is the case with mine.

[kennatt]

try re adjusting the brakes and see if you need more than the one click that you took off to get the wheel to bind,because I had a similar problem and found that,( though uncommon,) the snail cams had worn and after perfect adjustment the brakes on application were slipping back off the cams,therefore taking off a notch of adjustment, fitted a set of new cams and cured the problem,worth a try. good luck

[rreems]

Hi all
Thanks to everyone for the excellent advice, what a great forum we have!!

Kind regards

Richard