Freelander 1 td4 rear brakes out of balance

Hi there guys long story short my freelander failed mot on corrected brake pipes from front to back.

So replaced the lines from both rear brakes to the front. Also replaced the rear cylinders and also the flexible hoses as well to make it easier.

I cut the brake lines just before the abs pump as the nuts was seized in the abs.

So took it back for retest and the back brakes are now way out of balance and the rear passenger is working but not as good as the drivers side.

What do people think as getting a bit frustrated with it now.

Many thanks for any suggestions

Kind regards

Mark

Did you clean out the rear drums, inspect shoes and check the springs were all good, and all moving parts are free to move, then put back together and adjust by pumping the brake pedal?

Welcome to the forum

Yes all free and I adjusted by the self adjuster till it was close to the drum rebuilt and then pumped the brakes ?? which reading the forum could be wrong ??

I'd be suspecting an air lock or, as it sounds like you joined pipes and corrosion was about, muck in one brake line. Either way bleed the duff line and try again you may shift it.

You don't say if it's the foot brake or hand brake that's not working correctly. If it's the foot brake, then it's likely to be air or contamination in the line of the low side. If it's the hand brake then there's something wrong with the shoe assembly.

As a side note. If the brakes have done more than 100,000 miles, then it's wise to replace the drums and fit new OE (Delpli) shoes. This will correct a gradual reduction in rear brake efficiency, which sneaks in over the years. Fitting new quality friction surfaces makes a huge difference to rear brake performance, especially the hand brake.

Agree with the above, its a bit folly to do all that work and not replace the shoes and drums. They are cheap as really and won't leave you in the current position of not knowing what's wrong. I replaced all the bits in my rear brakes earlier in the year and it was still cheap even after paying for those heavy drums to be air freighted from the other side of the planet.

Having said that, when I replaced the ABS pump on mine I gave all the brakes a thoughrough bleed - and the brakes were still terrible. I had to give them another thoughrough bleed. Then they were spot on. Took a couple of bottles of brake fluid through the system to get the job done well. If you cut the pipes close to the ABS pump and air got in it, they can be a nightmare to bleed. When I first started bleeding the brakes nothing was going through the system - I don't know what was happening, but fluid just would not shift - I had to remove the pipes from the pump and use a syringe to manually fill the pump, then it would bleed OK.

You don't say how you are bleeding them, you can use diagnostic kit to get the ABS pump to bleed the system - which sounds like a good idea. I have used 1 of those "one man brake bleed" kits the last couple of times - some tube, little capture bottle and non-return jobbie. For a simple piece of equipment that costs pennies - they work really well. Just wish they came with a bigger bottle - its easy to fill the MC tank - but messy and a pain to keep emptying that little bottle.

Hopefully I'm going to pull them apart again tommorow can't be anything major more annoying while I'm at it I'll get new shoes at same time makes sense then the rear brakes are all brand new. And adjust them again.

On a similar note anyone know why the flexible hoses need the brake lines double flared when in my head they can do them as a single flare like the brake cylinders.

Cheers Grumpygel. I bleed then with a sealey hydraulic pressure bleeder and always had a good effect with it but defiantly a good idea might do it the old way and employ one of the kids to pump the pedal as i bleed them lol

Ps I have the diagnostics for lr but didn't know some can bleed the system I'll have a look to see if mine will good shout

markfalcon23 said:

I'll get new shoes at same time makes sense then the rear brakes are all brand new.

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In my experience, replacing just the shoes is false economy. The drums will have worn larger than the new shoes, which means they take an age to bed in, mostly wearing out the shoes to do so. Fitting new drums means the new shoes bed in fast and last for another 100,000 miles, if OE shoes are used.