Rear Brakes maxing out on the adjustment

[welshrat]

Its been like an August day here in south Wales so decided to try and sort my rear brake problems this morning. I needed to change the both rear cylinders some time ago as they had seized, shoes are fairly new and drums are in good condition. The problems I have had are very poor handbrake (worse on the drivers side) and a peddel almost down to the floor on first pump ( solid thereafter). Listened to advice and set about ensuring they are correctly adjusted, slackened both handbrake cables right off, checked all shoes are fitted correctly and general clean up. The problem I have is that on both sides the adjuster clicks up to the max (about 15 clicks), the pedal problem appears to be sorted and the hand brake is much better but I cannot understand why I have no adjustment left. Pretty sure that prior to changing the cylinders adjusting to about 5-6 clicks would lock the rear drum. So thinking poor quality cylinders that are slightly shorter than the ones I removed or shoes are much more worn down than I think they are. There is about 5mm of lining on the shoes. Any thoughts would be very welcome. On a more positive note Wales winning the tripple crown this afternoon - Result!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[brucek]

Good effort by the welsh boys - congratulations we ran you soooo close though when very few gave England a chance Grand slam now I hope ?

[welshrat]

I agree, England played very well and it was a very close game, no finger nails left and blood pressure only now coming back to normal. Any thoughts on my braking dilema?

[dalebrignall]

i was there it was a good game , lawes ruinrd it from an england point of view .

[bmcecosse]

The drums are likely a bit worn. One way round it is to fit 'shims' under the tail of each shoe -where they butt together on the fixed stop. And/or where the upper shoe fits against the top of the cylinder. Just about 1/16" thick works wonders. bend them round so they can't fall out - although the shoe(s) will hold them in place anyway. But don't worry about it till you next need to make adjustments - which could be long enough away...

[mike.perry]

Try the larger cam from the 1098 front brakes. (I assume that the rear adjusters are all the same).
Fit a washer on top of the wheel cylinder, under the cap, it works for me.

[welshrat]

Managed to sort the rear brakes this afternoon but I still think there is a problem with the new cylinders that I fitted. Another good bleed and it turns out there was a fair amount of air in the system, fitted shims as suggested by BMC (steel whire on top of cylinder and flat ally shim on bottom (aduster side)). This has allowed me to adust up to about six clicks on the aduster and about another half inch of handbrake adjustment so now have good brakes all around. My shims have added about 4mm to each side, however as stated in my original post the drums look good with no visible wear and the shoes have a good lining.
Can anyone tell me the depth of lining on new shoes as I cannot understand what this is about, also the new cyliders fitted are QH code is BWC3419 (Equv: DWC587), could these be the wrong ones for the motor or has anyone else had simular problems with this make. Sorry to go on but would like to get to the bottom of this one as prior to cylinder change I had perfect brakes with the correct adjustment on the cylinders and handbrake cable.