brake adjustment

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Mr.Nice. expelled:

FFS man, buy a book that shows you all this. IMO brakes are important enough that if your knowledge is such that you can't adjust brakes without help then leave them well alone until you have the reference material, knowledge (and quite possibly expert help the first time). As an aside, don't just adjust your rear brakes - pull the drums off, check for fluid leaks and wash all the dust out before you reassemble and adjust them. Doing this would also give you an idea of what the adjuster is actually doing.

It's easy. There's one square adjuster for the handbrake. The rear drums usually have on adjuster, the fronts sometimes have two (if you have drums on the front) The procedure is exactly the same.

Assuming you have removed the drum and checked for leaks, dusted out etc etc:

Slacken the adjuster by turning it anticlockwise. Then, use one hand to turn the brake drum, gradually turning the adjuster clockwise to wind the drums in. The shoes should just be lightly rubbing on the surface of the drum, you can feel this as you turn the drum. Otherwise, a good rule of thumb is to wind the adjuster up untill the drum is just very stiff to turn, or just locked, then back off two notches ( you will feel the notches as you turn the adjuster.

The handbrake adjuster (small square peg) will have one notch per quarter turn. If you can't turn it any further and you still need further adjustment, renew the shoes. The handbrake should be fully engaged with about 5-7 clicks on the handbrake lever.

The wheel adjusters (hex head, about 13mm or so) will have about 10 notches to the half turn - they are snail cam and if you turn them too far the shoes will ping back to the lowest setting. If this happens you need new shoes or possibly even drums, depending on wear.

Alex

You seem to have done the handbrake correctly - one square adjuster, adjust clockwise to bring the shoes closer to the drum. Rear brakes have two adjusters, hexagonal half inch front and back on the backing plate. Where you can expect to tighten the handbrake adjuster one or more turns, the rear brake adjusters (also clockwise to move the shoes up) will need much less movement, and the notches are much less pronounced (see Alex's post). The front discs are self adjusting.

On or around Wed, 30 Jun 2004 13:18:26 +0100, Mr.Nice. enlightened us thusly:

the adjuster is a tapered square thing, you turn it 90 degrees at a time.

On or around Wed, 30 Jun 2004 13:18:26 +0100, Mr.Nice. enlightened us thusly:

rear brakes on a 110 have 2 adjusters, both are snail cam things which have about 3/4 turn of movement.

Personally, my technique was to do 'em with the brakes hard on. They're very difficult to get right otherwise. wedge the brakes on with a suitable bit of broomstick or something onto the pedal, having had the engine running so there's some vacuum in the servo.

then crawl under the back, with yer 13mm ring spanner, and turn each adjuster in turn clockwise until it comes up tight, then back it off slightly, about half a "flat" on the hex. check that the wheels turn freely afterwards.

Twas Thu, 1 Jul 2004 07:55:28 +1200 when "EMB" put finger to keyboard producing:

I have the LR workshop manual and the haynes, neither are clear on this point. I am generally competent but not done this one before.

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

Twas Wed, 30 Jun 2004 23:28:45 +0100 when Austin Shackles put finger to keyboard producing:

Top tip Austin. I shall pull the drums off first as per other advice.

Regards. Mark.(AKA, Mr.Nice.)

While the Haynes manual for a Series Land Rover is one of the better examples, it shares with the workshop manuals a few assumptions about what the mechanic knows about being a mechanic.

The information can be there to do quite major hobs, but then they don't tell you which way to turn the mixture screw on the carburretor.

I'd hesitate to agree with Austin about doing the adjustment with the brakes hard on. The basic process in the Haynes and Workshop manuals works without any such fuss, and done properly the brakes will come on firmly and without excessive pedal travel.

On or around Thu, 01 Jul 2004 10:10:07 +0100 (BST), snipped-for-privacy@zhochaka.demon.co.uk ("David G. Bell") enlightened us thusly:

I found that the snail cams push the shoes out of place when turned, and can also be difficult to turn with the pressure of the springs on 'em. both of these can lead to them not being adjusted optimally. Putting the brakes on takes the load off the adjusters, they turn easily. When they come up tight, you back them off slightly just as you do anyway with most brake adjusters.

Just don't omit checking the wheels turn afterwards, in case you've got one too tight.

doing it that way got then more accurate than other methods, IME on my 110.

The old type series brakes, ISTR, had a single adjuster at the bottom, but they're not the same. These are the big drums as fitted to the back of the early 110 with the 2 snail-cam adjusters.