Near miss - brake question

[bjm38]

Hi all -

I think I brought Karma down upon me last week after Dom, the car's previous owner, asked how the car was going and I told him things were faultless...

Driving home from Manchester on the motorway yesterday, there was an intermittent loud squeaking from the OSF which worsened on braking, coupled with a "hot" smell. Some clever individual decided to undercut me and pull in front just before the lights at the end of the motorway forcing me to brake hard - I only *just* managed to stop and my right foot was nearly through the floor. Home was only half a mile away and, pulling up carefully, I found the OSF wheel nearly too hot to touch. It looks like a seized wheel cylinder, a pattern one judging from the pictures on Bull Motif's site. Question is, should I just replace the dodgy one or replace all four on the front, and is there any real merit in the Lockheed stuff?

Any advice welcomed by a brake-meddling virgin...!!

TIA

Bernard

[Dean]

I have pattern wheel cylinders (a genuine master cylinder), fitted to mine and have had no problems, others though say differently. Everything on my brakes were new though, master cylinder, wheels cylinders, copper pipe, rubber flexi hoses the lot.

I'd go with your own finding... and on that judgement I would replace all the fronts with genuine new ones.

[bmcecosse]

There are some poor reports of the 'non genuine' front cylinders, although rears seem to be ok. I would just replace the one sticky cylinder - BUT - the brake linings in that drum have now been 'cooked' - so you now also need a new set of linings.......to keep the balance put them in BOTH front drums.....

[mike.perry]

Visually check that all the wheel cylinders are opening and fully retracting

[charlie_morris_minor]

as you are a brake meddling virgin..

it is recommended to change shoes in axle sets i.e. change both sides of the car at the same time

(roy edited his post whilst i was writing mine)

[bmcecosse]

[bjm38]

Thanks for all the replies...I take particular note of Roy's caution regarding the linings being "cooked". I've decided to go the whole hog and change all 4 front wheel cylinders for Lockheeds, also 4 new shoes and springs. Neighbour's stepfather is a retired lorry fitter, he's kindly offered to help out on Saturday. I just hope Bull Motif deliver the parts with their usual promptness.

My chances of surviving a spin on Sunday might have taken a marked improvement!

Bernard

[bmcecosse]

Good plan I think.

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

Probably a good idea to give all the nuts and bolts a good squirt with WD40 or pocket rocket tomorrow before you start working on it on Saturday and hopefully you wont break any pipes that havent moved in years!!

[bjm38]

Mission accomplished....what an utter **** in the ****!!!

I had to spend half an hour filing and shaping the notch in one of the brake shoes where the micram fits after scratching a hole in my head trying to work out why the heck the drum was so tight. Am I just unlucky, or are a lot of these "excellent quality" spares dodgy?

Bernard

[bmcecosse]

[Dean]

Am I just unlucky, or are a lot of these "excellent quality" spares dodgy?

Bernard

I'm with bmc.. consider yourself lucky if you get them to fit without having to get the file to them.

[bjm38]

In fairness, this is the first "real" problem that I've encountered with the Morris in 18 months' ownership, although I have been working on a few issues on the car's "cousin", a "proper" Mini. The Morris is, of course, a veritable "grandfather's axe" with most of its innards undoubtedly having been swapped out at least once. I recently had the exact same problem with my three-year-old works Vauxhall Combo, so there's no blame to be had with the car.

My friend Keith, who helped (read: told me what to put, where and when on the first side, then did the other side himself in minutes flat!), grumbled "We'd just have tossed that brake shoe in the skip at work!"


Bernard

[bjm38]

I'm with bmc.. consider yourself lucky if you get them to fit without having to get the file to them.

I just wonder if these shoes that I bought are "NOS" or newly-manufactured heritage bits, and if the latter, where are they made? I find the 5mm or so tolerance (that they appear to be made to) shocking.

I get the feeling I'm being a teensy bit naive as I delve into the world of classic cars.

Bernard

[bmcecosse]

I've fitted many shoes over the years -and never had to do any filing...in fact there has always been plenty of clearance - always a few clicks needed on the adjusters.... Are you sure all the cylinders were fully retracted and the adjuster bases seated down into the cylinder caps properly and between the little guide rails? And was the 'edge' taken off the drums with a file/emery paper?

[bjm38]

Everything was done under the watchful eye of my friend Keith who had worked on commercial braking systems for over 40 years. The notch on one of the shoes was visibly shallower than those on the others, so there was no doubt as to what what was making one shoe stand proud. Keith had pointed out long before I believed him that there was a defect with that shoe, he was very patient with me! He gently sanded down all of the shoes before they were fitted.

I did have to show him where the master cylinder was, however.

Bernard