Morris Minor Owners Club

Anyone know of a brake shoe relining company near caerphily/cardiff who reline shoes. I've wrecked my rear shoes with diff oil and I've ordered a wheel bearing kit and new shoes, but my old shoes have rivetted linings and I was wondering if it was worth keeping the old linings to rebuild for spares. Or is it not worth the bother.

Cheers

Steve

I dont think i would bother as brake shoes arent expensive

Not worth the bother, get some new ones from your local motor factor

Cheap as chips.....just get new ones.......

Cheers all, that's what I suspected, so ill bin um.
Anyone in south wales got a socket I can borrow for the rear hub 1 1/8 whit or 1 5/8? af, I've used a cold chisel in the past but a proper socket would be nice.

Cheers

S

One day the metal parts will become scarce because everyone has thrown them away, 9in brake shoes are already in short supply.
So throw all the old shoes in a box until the day that they are required

Thats a good point mike. Im all for recycling so perhaps I should keep them for the next time my wheel bearings/hubs leak. They are rivetted and meant to be rebuildable after all, so perhaps I should keep them to rebuild one day. My dad is restoring a AH sprite at the moment which uses the same rear brakes, so they may come in handy for two cars.

The lack of a handbrake made me open up the drums, the brakes seemed ok ish, ok perhaps a bit more pedal pressure required (because the rears werent working), but she stopped ok and in a straight line etc, but my driveway is a slope into the garage and she simply wasnt holding on the handbrake, so something was obviously wrong.

Cheers

S

You may find that your rear pistons are not working properly. I had the same problem on a sloping drive despite adjusting them. I put my car on an MOT brake tester and found that all the braking was on the front wheels. I replace the rear pistons and passed the MOT

I've heard, but have no experience doing it, that, if you boil the brake shoes the oil will come out. Sounds plausible, may be worth a try. Anyone on here tried that trick?
I have cleaned up shoes that weren't too bad by washing them with gasoline.

Katy,

Yes as a hard-up student with a TR2 many years ago, I had the front cylinder seals go and contaminate the front shoes. Soaked them in Polyclens brush cleaner for a few hours, dried them and put them in my Mum's oven at 200°C for an hour or so, gave them a quick rub over with some medium emery cloth and they looked and performed as good as new!

The problem with boiling brake shoes is cleaning the saucepan afterwards. Or you can leave it to the other half!

Boiled many a Morris 8E brake shoe in washing soda - yes it doesn't do the pan any good, and I wouldn't dare put them anywhere near my dear old Mum's oven........

Has anyone got a box spanner or socket with a large strong bar in south wales I could borrow. The socket required is 1 1/8 whit, Ive found a britool socket for sale on ebay but it needs a heafty 1" drive much bigger than my 1/2 set. I ve now rebuilt the hub and replaced the shoes, but it'll be nice to tighten the hub nut without a chisel.

cheers

steve

Steve,
I bought a 46mm socket with a 3/4" drive and use an adapter 3/4" to 1/2".
Regards
Declan

I've got one in Llantwit major, CF61 2GS. Too far away?

Just a whack with the chisel and job done..... what's the problem?

I ended up doing just that. A couple more clouts from a chisel and lump hammer after the nut had stopped moving. Not an ideal tool for the job admittedly, but its been done lots of times before me by the state of the nut, and the wheel hasnt fallen off. Yet!! I just wanted to use a proper tool for the job. Ive measured the nut and it seems to be between 47-48mm, I realise its probably imperial but metric sockets are much easier and cheaper to get hold of. For info a 48mm socket requires a 3/4" drive, something I dont own and how often will I use such a socket?

Tried to assemble the brakes and drum etc, only to find that the pesky cylinder is seized slightly extended and my drum wouldnt go over the new shoes. I think its the handbrake piston and not the hydraulic piston that has seized actually. Anyway the new cylinder is due to go on tomorrow and everything will be refurbished on the rear end.

Has anyone had experience with bleeding brakes using the hand operated vacuum gun gadgets? You just need to make sure the master cyl is up to level (as the norm) and then push the vacuum gun pipe onto the bleed nipple and pump the gun trigger. I believe the nipple threads need to be greased for optimium sealing against the vacuum sucking air through the threads. But thats about it?

Cheers
Steve

Did you slacken off the handbrake cables first? This is ESSENTIAL. The rear cylinder is easily 'unstuck' - just put a jack under it and pump it up. Once it retracts go in to the car (this assumes brakes all connected and bled...) and pump the pedal down and up, down and up - you should feel the rear of the car rise and fall as you pump -better if you have a willing assistant of course.

bmcecosse wrote:--better if you have a willing assistant of course.

Do you mean that you can feel the willing assistant rise and fall as you pump?

Ohhhhhhhhh errrrrrrrr missus ..........