Morris Minor Owners Club

I have a frightening problem with the brakes on my minor!

When braking at speed the car lurches to one side and it has to be corrected with opposite steering !! obviously one of the brakes is not as efficient as the other three! Is there a way of balancing them and how is the best way to test them to get them ready for an MOT?

Or is it the simple case of find what is causing the imbalance? e.g. a tired brake cylinder?

Cheers guys!

I'd guess you have a dodgy wheel cylinder somewhere.
I used to have one duff one on the front, because the other one of the pair worked the wheel would still 'brake' just not as well.

Well you adjust them up using the snail adjusters through the hole in teh brake drum.
You really need to get all th drums off before you start, check you dont have leaky cylinder, then give them a thorough bleeding.
That way you know everything is hopefully working properly when you take up the adjustment.

Whilst your there give your front bushes, trunnions & track rod ends the once over just in case theres any wear that might be exagerating the pull to one side.

Getting your brakes sorted is one of the most rewarding jobs going once they are working properly.
You could pretty much renew everything except the master cylinder for about £100 - Bull motif do a 'Do your brakes kit' which might be worth considering if you can afford it.

Scabby trav had next to no brakes when i got it, replaced everything except MC and it will lock the wheels easily at 40mph, so for me it transformed the car completely.

It's most likely to be the front brake on the opposite side to the direction it's pulling towards. Take the drum off and check for the pistons sticking in the cylinders due to corrosion. Also make sure the shoes aren't contaminated with brake fluid or grease.

If you have a local friendly MOT centre, pop down and ask them to do a rolling road brake efficiency test. This will show exactly which wheel has the least stopping power, or if one of the fronts is snatching.

Almost certainly a cylinder has leaked -and the wet shoes give v much lower braking force. If it's a sharp pull then indeed suspect the front brake on the side NOT pulling! If it's just a general pull to one side - suspect the rear brake on the non-pulling side. If the shoes are wet with fluid -you will need new shoes and of course the leak must be fixed!

Worth checking the tie bar bushes.

We had a sharp pull that turned out to be the bush on one side having collapsed making the king pin on one side move back.

Obviously look at cylinders first but also check everything else under there is tight.

Good point - tie-bar is indeed a possibility, especially if there is a 'clunk' noise at the same time !