Series 3 Hand Brake Expander play in housing

Hello all, I have been attempting to run through a list of tasks to complete prior to going through my first ever MOT and on the list was getting the hand brake to work. I have completely disassembled it, replaced the oil seal as there was oil everywhere and then some. I've cleaned everything, put it all back together without much of an issue, except for the expander assembly is loose in the housing. It seems like the expander housing is much smaller than the hole in the backing plate and in my mind over time the bottom shoe will wear quicker as it will naturally slop around and drag slightly on the drum?

Has anyone else noticed if you put the expander clips back in as per the land rover repair operational manual or haynes manual, there is still play around the expander housing mating to the backplate? I've seen one other post in regards to this, but no one answered the question about play, they only answered the other questions in that post.

Any help would be appreciated, I would like to know I've either done all I can do to remedy the problem, or else there's something else I should do!

Thanks!

Robert

From memory the hole is bigger but the 3(?) packing pieces ensure it should be wedged tight. Could you be missing a shim or could they be worn?

Yes, there should be 3 shims to pack against the backplate to hold the expander and for the gaitor to slip onto. If you have it assembled correctly and is still lose you could put a small bend in the flat plate to take up the slack but bear in mind that you only need to take out any wobble. The whole assembly will self centre each time you us it.

SpringDon said:

From memory the hole is bigger but the 3(?) packing pieces ensure it should be wedged tight. Could you be missing a shim or could they be worn?

Click to expand...

They could definitely be worn out, I think I'll attempt to bend the packing peice the other direction (it seems to be worn the wrong way, probably due to brute force being applied to the lever I assume) and see where that gets me, really wish I had done that prior to reassembling the whole mess, as it was much easier to access with the backing plate off *sigh* this land rover has certainly been the learning experience of what I should expect out of the 109" I'm going to take on after this one is sold and out of my hair!

Thanks for your help!

blue beasty said:

Yes, there should be 3 shims to pack against the backplate to hold the expander and for the gaitor to slip onto. If you have it assembled correctly and is still lose you could put a small bend in the flat plate to take up the slack but bear in mind that you only need to take out any wobble. The whole assembly will self centre each time you us it.

Click to expand...

I'm going to screw around with the packing piece and see if I can get it to pretend to be tight, or somewhat secure. It just sort of surprises me that it's not designed to fit snugly in the hole and stay put =( Reminds me of an American car manufacture's motto "Not just good, just good enough".

Thanks for the help,

Robert

its supposedto have room to self center as mr beastie said its desingned that way the clip and packings only stop it been too floppy

Think of a hydraulic brake - there's two independent pistons so, even though the cylinder(s) are fixed, the brakes can self centre. With the handbrake the relationship between the two plungers is fixed so, to self centre the shoes, the plunger assembly must move on the backplate. Mine never seemed to be happy until I replaced the clips with new ones and very carefully followed the drawing in the manual. If the clips aren't seated properly, the rubber boot won't stay on.

I might be teaching you to suck eggs here but another tip once you have it back together properly is,when you adjust the h/brake wind the adjuster in as tight as you can get it then back it off until it doesn't bind.

dellboy1959 said:

I might be teaching you to suck eggs here but another tip once you have it back together properly is,when you adjust the h/brake wind the adjuster in as tight as you can get it then back it off until it doesn't bind.

Click to expand...

I have both the Land Rover Repair Manual and the Haynes as well so between the two of them I did figure out the correct way to adjust it once I got the new shoes in... The new shoes on the front axles is a whole other issue that apparently is a very common one when u don't spend the big bucks on high end brake shoes... I guess my grinder is going to come in very handy!

oxides said:

Think of a hydraulic brake - there's two independent pistons so, even though the cylinder(s) are fixed, the brakes can self centre. With the handbrake the relationship between the two plungers is fixed so, to self centre the shoes, the plunger assembly must move on the backplate. Mine never seemed to be happy until I replaced the clips with new ones and very carefully followed the drawing in the manual. If the clips aren't seated properly, the rubber boot won't stay on.

Click to expand...

Ahhha, this explains why the rubber boot was flopping around in the first place.... I better just order the new clips, this is actually the first transmission brake I've disassembled or adjusted so it's been an entirely new learning experience.

Thanks for the replies guys, very helpful information!!