W reg Transit rear brakes

Nothing out of the usual. Use a screwdriver through the hole in the back plate to knock the adjusters (it's a ratchet and pawl - use the screwdriver to lever the lower pawl downwards) off, before trying to take the drums off. If the adjusters abit seized, lever it down while somebody pulls the handbrake on to force it back. With the adjuster right off, the drums should come of with a couple taps of the hammer. If they don't, they're probably seized on to the hub itself. In that case use a suitable hammer and blunt chisel to knock the drum off using the lip at the back.

The key to getting the springs off is a length of reasonable size (10-15A capable stuff) electrical wire (the multi-strand car type stuff, not mains). Hook the wire around the small top spring first (the one holding the adjuster onto the shoe), and pull it off, then feed the wire through the other top spring, and pull it off. Then remove the shoe retaining clips/springs, and then using a pair of pliers/mole grips, lever one of the brake shoes out and over the retaining lip at the bottom, and unhook the bottom spring.

Rebuilding is just the opposite, but make sure all the c-clips holding the various levers onto the shoes are a tight fit on the pins, and lubricate the pivots with some moly or copper grease.

Once rebuilt, get someone to press the brake, and through the backplate, lever the top part of the adjuster backwards using a screwdriver to adjust the brakes.

While stripped down that far, you may want to consider also replacing the handbrake cable. If it's never been done, or not been done for a few years, then it'll probably be starting to seize (usually the n/s seizes firsts). Or just check it before you strip the shoes. Operate it, and then check to see if the handbrake levers go right back against the stops without any assistance (off course, that depends on the h/b cable being adjusted properly in the first place).

Many thanks for taking the time to provide such a full answer moray.

Chris

Chris Whelan wrote in news:lG2Ah.13431$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe4-win.ntli.net:

Dunno about the drum assembly itself, but take care not to overtighten the wheel nuts, especially if it's a LWB model with 6 stud wheels. The drums warp easily if clamped too tightly by the wheel. I once knackered the brake drum on a transit by overtightening when changing a flat tyre, using only the supplied wheel brace (I didn't stand on it), and I'm 11st wet through!

Stu

Thanks for the tip.

Chris

I noticed when I took my Tranny (SWB 5 studs) in for new tyres, they put the nuts back on very carefully with a torque wrench, not the usual air tool. I've never seen a tyre place do that before! Could this be the reason?

BobC

All tyre places are supposed to check the wheel nuts/bolts with a torque wrench.

Never heard of that one before! The OP van should be 5 stud, with conical nuts (which should be tightend to the standard ford wheel nut torque of 85Nm, spigot nuts on old style goto

The 6 stud spigot mount wheels were kept for the heavy duty axles, and the usual result from over tightening them were snapped/stretched studs. It's more likely that with you disturbing everything, a bit rust had got dislodged and ended up between the drum and hub. With spigot mount wheels, making sure every mating surface (wheel, drum + hub) is free from contamination is of the utmost importance. Any contamination (be it rust, thick grease, or dirt), can cause vibration problems, but even more importantly, the wheels to come slack. Plus spigot mounted wheels should be re-torqued after 20miles or 30 minutes. Unfortunetly, in places where time is money, very few people bother to clean all the surfaces, and sometimes with serious consequences.

No problem. I'm stuffed full of the cold, so am avoiding anything that requires too much thought or effort!

"moray" wrote in news:eqsv2e$kd2$1$ snipped-for-privacy@news.demon.co.uk:

You may well be right, but it caused severe brake judder, rather than just plain vibration. Under braking, the pedal began to pulse violently up and down whereas the brakes were perfect before the wheel change. Local Ford dealer made the warped drum diagnosis and said that it was common. All was fine again after it went in for replacement drums.

ISTR another of the vans (we had all LWB trannys) developing a slight brake judder following a tyre replacement at ATS, although that was nowhere near as severe.

Apart from the above 'characteristic' (?), I found the trannys of that era to be pretty sturdy. The only other common foibles I experienced were oil leaks, failure of the clutch cable self-adjust quadrant and a tendency for the exhaust to split at the bottom of the down-pipe.

Stu