Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi, I'm now assembling the Traveller full rebuild project (should I do an intro?) that I began in 2009 after being sidetracked with other comitments/projects. However I'm puzzled by the rear brakes on the car, which came to me as a part-dismantled, abandoned project. As bought, only the backplate was on the car - most brake parts were in the boxes of assorted bits.

I've tried to rebuild the rear brakes using one of the 'Do Your Brakes' kits from Bull Motif, using new shoes and cylinders, and inserting the snail cam adjuster between the cylinder and the lower shoe, as shown by the diagram in the Workshop Manual - adding new return springs in the process. However I can't see how the adjuster is held in place. It looks free to move backwards or forwards with no restraint. If it moves forwards, it would grind against the drum. If it moves backwards it would fall into the void and allow excessive movement of the piston and the brakes wouldn't work. In fact it took three attempts at assembling the thing before it stayed together without the adjuster sliding off towards the half shaft. Have I missed something? Surely there should be something to prevent the adjusters sliding backwards and forwards?

At the same time, the drum doesn't want to fit over the whole caboodle. I may have assembled something wrongly, although I had the same problem on the front brakes, where the drums fitted after I ground about 0.5 mm off the shoes to get them to fit. It occurs that I could kill two birds with one stone here, by grinding a 1mm slot into the the rear lower shoes were they fit into the adjuster, which would hold the adjuster in place and also enable the drum to fit. However I am extremely uncomfortable about modifying a safety-critical part to an untested degree like this.

Any thoughts?

It locates between the little raised lips on the piston head - and the groove on the lower shoe locks into the spindle of the adjuster - it can't escape! Make sure the handbrake cables are loose - and the cam turned to lowest posn of course, and use a file to take the front edge off each lining to make a small 45 degree slope. Ease the shoes back and forth to centralise - the drum WILL fit over. Only tighten the cables after the shoes have been adjusted up on the cams.

The brake wheel cylinder should be free to move up and down in the slot.
One brake shoe has a cut out in the end which slots over the spindle of the brake adjuster. When you have finally got both springs on and the shoes in position and have stopped throwing spanners, screwdrivers etc across the garage, make sure that the adjuster is fully slackened and there is plenty of slack in the handbrake cables or they are disconnected. The adjuster will be held in position by the shoes
When fitting the drums it is necessary to tap the brake shoes sideways to centre them in the drum. Pull the drums on tight using a pair of diagonally spaced wheel nuts and when they are tight then fit the retaining set screws
Grease the handbrake cables and the ends of the inner cables and check the rear dampers, then replace the wheels and adjust the handbrake cables with both wheels supported on axle stands. Pull the hand brake lever full on and check that both wheels are locked. Release the handbrake lever one or two clicks and check that there is equal resistance on each wheel

Hi

You should have a half round groove in the end of one shoe for the adjuster like this


http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=morris ... 3,s:0,i:78

It sounds like you dont have this?

Taupe

As has already been mentioned. Only two of the four (across the back axle) have the 'notch' to locate the adjuster. Make sure you've got the shoes in the right positions (and right way around) and that you haven't accidentally picked up both non-notched ones and trying to put them on one side!

Inspect all 4 shoes, if none of them have a notch in them... send them back and ask for a new set! ...It wouldn't be the first time ;)

Thanks for the replies, guys. At this stage it seems most likely that I used both shoes with cut-outs on the other side when I rebuilt that, leaving me with two shoes minus cut-outs. Hopefully there'll be time tomorrow to trolley jack the car sideways, whip the opposite drum off and have a shufti.

Thanks again - just had a look and nail hit on head.

[quote="mike.perry"]?...When you have finally got both springs on and the shoes in position and have stopped throwing spanners, screwdrivers etc across the garage..../quote]


Welcome to my world - actually had a great weekend and my compatriot put Dunblane on the map for all the right reasons.

I fitted up all brake pipes, new master cylinder, wheel cylinders and brake shoes. But, I am struggling to get rear long brake return springs on (inboard of the shoes). Is there a special technique or tool I should be using? Have never found it as hard on other cars.

1)fit the springs to the shoes on the inboard side "on the bench" (off the car) with the notched part of the shoe in the right place to sit against the piston (when fitted on the car).

2)Jam each of the spring ends into the holes in the shoes with a small round bar (e.g. suitable crosshead screwdriver) otherwise they tend to fall out by themselves when you're just about to finish the next steps... leading to much cursing.

3) Wiggle/pursuade the spings past the halfshaft/hub assy.

4) using a lever (e.g. large / heavy duty flat bladed screwdriver) against the hub or anything else solid. Lift the ends of the shoes one by one and move into the right place on the backplate & cylinder.

5) when all ends are in place, lift the shoe end (where the adjuster should be) away from the cylinder, and slide the adjuster into place.

6) turn the adjuster back to minimum adjustment position. Rotate it to fully adjusted out, and then fully back off again*

7) slide the shoes around until the gap around the edge of the lining (relative to the outer edge of the backplate) is really even.

fit the drum over the shoes and right up to the hub. If the drum is a loose fit, use 2 nuts and some wahsers to keep it in place temprarily.

9) use a strong flatblade screwdriver through the adjuster hole, to shove/slide the shoes 'towards the drum at the rear of the car'. Lever against the metal part of the shoe, not not the lining as the lining is fragile!

10) adjust the brakes until they're just catching the drums, but not so tight that you can't rotate the drum by hand!

11) use the brakes hard a couple of times in forward and reverse (when they are working!) Re-check the adjustment after using the brakes. Usually the 'just catching' will become 'just free' after a small amount of driving.

* Some brake shoes are not made correctly and can foul on the adjuster - this is easy to see when you cycle to both ends of the adjuster when the drum is off! If the end of the shoe fouls the adjuster, the fouling part of the shoe needs 'dressing' with a file or angle grinder.