Brakes weak (Breaks week)

Hopeless they are, they stop after a fashion but with the trailer on, even when empty, Stopping nose down the hill, as I near the A73, is scary and not something that should be rushed.

The disks are less than a year old and the pads too, they look fine, loads of pad and little to no rust or lip on the disks.

I decide it has to be the calipers and order 2 left ones from Ribble 4X4 (actually I didn't order 2 left ones but that's what I got).

With the calipers on the bench I could see that one of them wasn't at all well, one of the pistons wasn't for moving and two of the others only had 1 seal intact. All of the pistons were rusty and there is about 10mm of seriously stuck on gunge around the outer lip.

The other caliper seemed ok. The pistons moved slowly out and were clean and shiny. The caliper itself has been coated in underseal but beneath this is clean too. I conclude that this one was changed not that long ago.

So that's 1 dead one in the bin, 1 'used but good' ready for eBay and two new shiny calipers, new bolts and new brake pins ready to fit.

The brakes are slightly better but still not good, to lock the wheels on gravel takes a serious stomp on the pedal. As long as emergency braking happens like swimming through cold treacle then i'll be ok.

They're not right ....

There is a good pressure when bleeding, the servo works (you can feel it when the engine starts), vacuum seems OK, they don't 'pump up' so there isn't any air, they just feel poor. Like the pads have been soaked in oil. The pedal feels solid but the braking performance is still crap.

Can the vacuum pump deteriorate ?

The servo is quite small (thin) is there another/fatter one that fits ?
Any other tips greatly appreciated

There was a thread with all this in about a week or so ago, have a search and there's a lot of good info on it. Have you got drums on the rear? Maybe upgrade to later discs all round? Disco servo is bigger but its a 4 bolt as opposed to the 2 bolt defender servo, you can simply re-drill the bulkhead apparently although never done it myself. A 4 port master cylinder may also help...

Jongould said:

There was a thread with all this in about a week or so ago, have a search and there's a lot of good info on it.

Click to expand...

Sorry - I did search but couldn't find anything relevant. What was the thread called ??

id fit new pads they can harden ,std brakes should work okay

jamesmartin said:

id fit new pads they can harden ,std brakes should work okay

Click to expand...

I agree, they should be OK but they aint. New pads circa 14 months ago, Mintex.
Solid disks all round.

Shiny new calipers on front (last week)
1 new on rear (fitted when I bought him 04/2011)
New disks and new pads all round (part of the agreement when I bought him 14 months ago) - max 3000 miles

Pads will 'bed in' said the seller, brakes were crap from day 1, they have never got better so i am now trying to 'sort them out'.

My mate has a 94, 300tdi, D90 cab "truck" (as he continues to call it despite my protestations) his brakes are significantly better than mine.
First time I got in it my passenger nearly ate the dash.

Can the vacuum pump deteriorate ?
His setup looks the same as mine (although he has drum rears), same size servo, same master cyl**der etc. The only difference is his disks are a lot older and he has a new vacuum pump.

Are you sure they aren't just the cheapest of the cheap and you may as well have lumps of wood instead of pads? Or over heated them and they've gone hard?

What year is your landy, 90s and early 200s have smaller front calipers.And as Diesel Do says are the pads really a good make it makes a big difference.

200tdi and previous 90 defenders and discos and rrc share the same size caliper pistons 300 tdi defender and previous 110 have the larger piston .the larger the piston the greater the clamping force,you can check systems ability to hold vacuum by removing vac pipe after its been stood a little while , you should hear air rushing in ,if theres a leak it wont hold vacuum ,vac pumps can fail remove pipe and checking its sucking well with your finger ,never sen the issue with the word truck ,farmers were using the word long before landies became popular hobby,pads take only a few miles to bed in and even the best makes can produce poor set ,std set up will work if its all good including flexi pipes etc

Done the usual?
Take drums off and check linings and that the adjusters actually work.
Put them back on and adjust them.
Get someone to stamp on the pedal and look for bulges on flexi pipes and any weeping around the joints.
Flush the old fluid out for new stuff.
Check condition of discs and pads (glaze, etc)

I've had some feckin awful pads before (different car) constant fade and *poor* braking performance, so it might be worthwhile getting some new ones.

Atm I don't have the vac attached on my 110, and yeah you need a heavy foot but I can lock up on the road with a hard push, not stamp. Hmm, I do have a lot of cow **** stuffed in there atm.. maybe that's what you need!

The brake vacuum pump on my 90 300Tdi was shot and I replaced it a couple of weeks ago and it made a hell of a difference. You can tell if the vacuum pump is working by starting the engine with your foot on the brake pedal. If the vacuum pump is working you should feel the pedal go down slightly as the engine starts running and drives the pump.

I've just ordered some new (Mintex) pads as everything else you guys have suggested seems OK (Vacuum, servo, brake pipes etc).

jamesmartin said:

id fit new pads they can harden ,std brakes should work okay

Click to expand...

!0 stars JM. new pads fitted today and I have brakes again, the difference is amazing.

In the end I bought some Delphi pads (not Mintex as I said before) from Ribble Valley 4X4 (excellent suppliers BTW, highly reccomended). Easy to fit the've made a world of difference.
Without a doubt the best £23 i've spent so far