Hi,
Went to help Vintagebuilder bleed his brakes last night to no avail.
The rear drums appear to be set up right but you can still turn them with the brake pedal on full. The fronts lock solid. the handbrake also locks the rear drums solid.
Should the handbrake be tightened really tight before commencing bleeding the brakes????
Cheers,
Pat....

Oops, forgot to add it's an MK with Sierra 2ltr rear drums.
Pat...

Sounds like the automatic adjusters on the shoe levers are not working, which will appear better if the handbrake linkage is tightened but strip the drums off and free the adjusters is the real solution. Might just be some air still in the rear circuit.

Take the shoes off and put a carver clamp/big jubilee clip around the shoes, now test the pedal, if it is firm - air in the system is not the problem, it will be the adjusters. Bad rear adjusters usually give binding front brakes as the fluid is squeezed back into the system, and the only place for it to go is the calipers!

If it is air in the system, try jacking the rear of the car up and bleed, use an easybleed pressure system, or borrow a fluid suction system from the local garage (£50 if you want one to keep)

Possibly the bias valve incorrectly adjusted?

Think it is definately something to do with the automatic adjusters on the shoe levers but they "appeared" to be working. They did look a slightly different design to mine, but were "as fitted to the donor" (I have 2ltr Sierra drums on my Avon).
Like the idea of the jubilee thing. Will have to get vintage to try it and see if we can isolate the problem.
Cheers guys,
Pat...

Are the bleed nipples the highest point? Not sure of the layout on the Indy. Is it possible to remove them to bleed, and turn so the nipple is at the top?

Ha, ha, I said nipples!

with a drum off try pressing the brake pedal,shoes should come right out,if not its a pressure prob,badly adjusted shoes wont work either,un-adjust the handbrake as well,if the adjustment is all on the cable they wont work either

Afternoon All,

Picking up on Pats' posting.I have tried Marks' suggestion with the Jubilee clips. The brake pedal is solid with clips on.
Trying Conrods idea the shoes move outwards and the self-adjusters work.
With the drums back on however, when I pump the brake pedal I can hear the self-adjusters clicking but the pedal is nowhere like as solid as when Jubilee clips were on. I've bled system twice with Easi- Bleed.
Any more ideas would be really welcolm.

Regards

David

is it possible that the shoes are worn out so you're not quite getting full contact?

The pedal is never as good as it is with the jubilee clips fitted, because the self adjusters always leave a bit of clearance to prevent binding. With the drums back on you should have a decent pedal, unless the self adjusters are not doing their job, the clicking you can hear could be them adjusting up, then falling back. Try jamming the hand brake on and off about a dozen times (someone correct me, but I think the sierra adjusters work off the handbrake not the slave cylinder?).

If all else fails, looks like you are up for a new set of adjusters - I have a complete sierra here (except engine/box/prop/column/loom etc), but it would probably be a bit far to go!

check the automatic adjusters are set right

the adjusters should stop clicking after a few goes,if they keep going they are probly nacked,you got the little curley spring and small ratchet part on right?

Mine work in normal foot braking (not tried the handbrake yet) and they look like this, if it helps...










The first time I set them up I had the adjusters the wrong way up, and that caused them to..ummm.. not work.

Tom

you know what they say a picture is worth,btw there is another setup where the adjuster is in 2 peices on the shoe not the spreader bar

Vintage has the ones as pictured. the others are from the 1.3 and 1.8 Sierra I think. The balance bars are still ever so slightly different. Hard to explain without a pic. Maybe a different set of balance bars from the scrappies will be the way forward.
Pat.....

Afternoon All,
I was going to try the handbrake to set the self-adjusters.Thought I'd check that the handbrake was functioning correctly i.e pushing the shoes outward. With the drums off I could see that it was only the leading shoe which moved outward when handbrake applied. Is this is as it should be or should both shoes move outwards.

Could I have my brakes incorrectly assembled and that is the cause of the problem?

Thanks for all your help and advice so far.

David

the leading shoe will move till it reaches the drum,then the other one will move,jam shoes with a screwdriver/someone elses finger and see

Evening All,

Just a word of thanks, especially to Avoneer, to all of you who took the time to give advice on brake problem.

Now solved

Regards

David

What was it?

Don't know for sure. Reset the adjusters, bled the brakes again, tightened the handbrake cables and all is now well.......
Pat.....