Series 3 front brakes bind on reverse only!

Hi, tinkering with another project (i'll never learn), a 1985 series 3 disease-L and thought the Landie was binding on reverse.
Popped off the wheels and yes, can turn clockwise but on anticlockwise/reverse she binds up. Has freewheeling hubs but doesn't make a difference which way thay are clicked. Took the drums off and nothing looks strange with the drum brakes. Perhaps its a previously unknown hill descent design for when I run out of fuel going up a mountain! Any help would be appreciated. Many Thanks, Andy:doh:

brakes are binding have you just fitted new set,leading edge wrong way round ,worn springs ,adjusted to tight ,

Hi james,
thanks for the reply.
No I personally havent changed anything. I was thinking about buying a new set of shoes. I have a copy of an old manual and tried to figure out if something was put on the wrong way but its not that clear. Tried googling to see if i could find a closeup picture of how it should be but no luck yet. Dont suppose the freewheel units could be the cause?
Cheers,
Andy

usually brake shoes

had a cavalier do the same years ago(rear brakes obviosly !), i changed all the hold down and return springs, sorted the job out, dont no if its the cause but it would be my first place to look,
cheers
Dave

Had the same problem.
The front axle on stands and spun the wheels by hand. One side was fine in both directions. the other side the brakes would bind in reverse.

Swapped over springs leaving shoes as is, and the problem followed the springs. Replaced binding springs with new and problem disappeared.

The faulty top long spring was about 5mm longer than the new spring. Lower spring seemed the same length.

Photos and measurements to follow.

This appears to be a fairly common problem and the proposed solutions are varied. As it happened, I had the front axle on stands and the free wheeling hubs in 2wd mode so the front wheels could spin freely if pushed by hand. Both sides were free in the forward direction and one side would bind in reverse. By moving the springs from one side to the other the binding problem followed the springs.

The “binding” springs were replaced with new and the problem disappeared.

Below is a photo of both top and bottom springs.

Using a vernier caliper, the inside spring size was measured. The actual length of the spring rather than length of the whole spring that includes 2 x diameter of the spring wire.

New long spring 122.88mm – faulty was 126.00mm = 3.12 mm longer
New short spring 86.19mm – faulty was 89.08mm – 2.89mm longer

Please note that this a cheap caliper and there was some slight variation on the measurement however the important measurement is the difference. It appears that a mere 3mm will cause the binding in reverse problem.

I’d bend the hook a little to shorten the spring to check if that made a difference first before replacing all the springs.

Please comment if you have success or failure.

Are those springs off a LWB or 11" brakes 10" has different spring top and bottom ie trailing shoe has no spring attached at top and can catch in reverse usual answer is to chamfer the top edge of trailling shoe lining.

These are from a swb and 10".
The top spring is not connect to the trailing shoe but a lug behind the trailing shoe. When I bought the landy it had the top spring connected to both shoes and I had binding forward and backwards.
Now my Landy can roll down a hill.

Thanks for the questions; my post was not clear