Morris Minor Owners Club

just fitted a lovely new sparkly set of wolseley breaks to Primrose, i overhauled them totally, so new pipes, new rubbers and very new shoes.
on the test drive i expected almost sudden stopping with the potential to bang my nose of the steering wheel due to the new stopping force of the brakes,

BUT.....

not a great deal happens, to say the least they appear worse than the standard morris breaks. Whilst they work, its very slow and dignified with no sudden stop you get if you stood on the pedal with normal breaks.

what have i done wrong?

i adjusted them right, (click the adjusters till the drum dosent move, then one back)
bled them right, so no air at all is in the system

and i didnt paint the inside of the drum, as that would be silly.

could it just be that i am unused to wolseley breaks?
could it be because they are new shoes and need bedding in?
or have i missed something glaringly obvious?

Just run them in - I can assure you - your nose will be in danger.

Make sure they are adjusted evenly at the front rather than on just 1 cam. And yes they will need bedding in, nothing to sharp braking wise (although this could already be too late) gentle braking, but try not to ride the pedal and let the pads glaze over.

Just a thought - you did fit them on the correct sides - so they are twin leading shoe, not twin trailing shoe............

well i fitted them according to the L and R stamped on the back plates and replaced the shoes and cylinders the same way they came off,

I'm sure they'll be good once bedded in and re-adjusted.

A thought, your braking problems may be due to another problem such as master cylinder failing or a leak somewhere such as a rear wheel cylinder.

have you having done the first run, readjusted the cam? I do it as the first time you use the brakes properly you centralise the shoes and occasionally you can adjust up another click

or just put them on ebay and get some decent disc brakes

As the others have said, bedding in will make them come right.
I replaced all the moving parts on my brakes and felt they were nothing to write home about, but they have got much better the more they have been used, till I'm quite happy with them now.

My current set (Minor cylinders) were too fierce on a 'new' set of shoes....but the older set work perfectly. Checked out today after lying all winter - still working perfectly! More than can be said for the rear cylinders.....but all working fine now.

I am in the middle of a similar process to Chris. I have two sets of brake shoes , one of which I have had relined locally , the ones already on the backplates & assumed correct . Before I use the " new " ones & risk fluid leaks from my re rubbered cylinders ruining them ( they were ALL seized ) I have fitted the used spares . They appear to be the correct 9" diameter , they have a similar lining " length " measured on the curve of 220 mm but are only 40 mm wide as opposed to the believed correct ones width of 45 mm . Both pairs have the same pattern of holes and slots in the same positions . Could they be rears or could they be correct ?
This question arises as I expect less stopping power with the narrower shoes .
Regards Andrew

40mm wide still beter than 7"

Thanks for the reply Faversham , I am aware that they should be an improvement . Google has just produced me a web page where it says W front and rears are 1 7/16 " wide , slightly less than 40mm . If my quick measure of 45mm is correct , the wider ones are nearer to 1 3/4" wide . The wider shoes also match the size of the braking surface of the drum .
Plan now is not to have the narrower ones relined but still use them as a potential sacrifice to check for leaks .

Regards Andrew

Just use the 'narrow' ones - they will be fine - possibly may even have asbestos in them which will make them MUCH better than modern 'camel dung' lining material. Since the wear will be negligible (unless you plan the Monte Rally?) don't worry too much about spare shoes !!!