Freelander 1 Rear drum brake reset

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rob_bell

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hi chaps,

I think I must have made a school boy error when reassembling the OSR drum brake after cleaning.

I will take the drum off again to have a look, but the problem is that the handbrake function is poor, and looking at the adjuster and handbrake cable balance bar, the cable to the OSR drum appears much longer than the NSR.

I thought the brake shoes would self adjust themselves against the drum, but perhaps this hasn't happened and do I need to manually adjust the shoes close to the drum?

Thanks for your thoughts! I much prefer brake discs and calipers ;)
 
On most versions once you've messed with the rear brakes, leave the handbrake off, start the engine, pump the foot brake about 30 times, then take the slack up with the cable adjuster behind the handle.
This should set it up ok
Mike
I think he has done that Mike - the cable bit is interesting - check under the console Rob and see if the cables are balanced - they should be.
Also check the cable runs. It would be unusual for one cable to be stretched considerably further than the other - the adjuster 'taking up' does not actually alter the cable lengths (by more than a fraction)

If you need images rob (from rave) no worries I have both (cannot remember what year yours is ?) - you probably do as well.

It is worth checking one thing that had me and my local specialist totally confused (not difficult ;)) for ages ... really poor handbrake performance on out L series (same brakes as any pre 2000). - all new components including cylinders / shoes / drums etc.
After months of trying to solve the issue I final took it to a local LR dealer out of desperation as I knew the vehicle was supposed to hold on a 33.3% gradient.
What we found was that the slave cylinders were too short in length ! - seriously - they were aftermarket - fitted apparently perfectly - specified for the freelander - yet when compared to originals were shorter by about 5 or 6 mm !!! - you could not tell apart from a direct comparison.
Order from rimmers 2 new ones (OEM)- compared them to genuine - exactly the same - fitted and immediately hand brake is the best of most cars I have ever driven. - we have a 30% slop at the top of a tarmac road from the farm track to the main road junction. it will hold easily there on 4 clicks. Even my bride who is 5 foot nothing can now drive it - before it was frightening for her as you needed to toe and heel it at the junction.
Cannot see that part being connected to the cable but ..............
Joe
 
Thanks chaps.

Mike, yes, I've done the 30 brake depressions with the handbrake off. In fact, to be fair, I've done many more than that "just in case".

I didn't take a picture last night, but the cable balance bar is straight as it should be - and it was before I messes with the rear drum. I suspect I've done something stupid, but I thought I had put everything back as it came out? The hand brake cable is connected. But the cable now clearly moves much more than it did - and more than it does on the near side (which I haven't touched for now).

I guess there is only one thing I can do and that is remove the drum and look. Shame it is pitched black out there already, and I still haven't left for home yet!!!

My hunch is that the top of the shoes are somehow not square on the actuator pins of the slave cylinder, but I guess I'll see...
 
I've spent a little too much time reading through that Fred! Assembled the wrong way round? Lol

not a lot of time now, but I'll slacken the handbrake cable and try the 30 steps on the brake again :)
 
Sadly that hasn't worked. I've done something stoopid, I'm sure. I'll take the drum off, but I'd better cancel tomorrow afternoon's MoT as I won't get time to sort it before :(

Here's the handbrake cable. All wrong...

. image.jpeg
 
have you put all the springs back as they should go when doing any thing I always take a picture then you can put it back the same way, also you should adjust the shoes up until it starts to drag on the drum then back it of 1 notch , you can do this by taking the rubber plug out of the back of the plate and get a torch and you will see a small cog wheel that is the adjusting wheel with a screw driver prises it so you are putting the flat of the screw driver under the flat part of the cog , if you look at 1 o'clock on the picture you can just see it ,the long cable worries me a bit are you sure you have it fastened in the adjuster under the center consol.
 

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I didn't actually take the springs off: the shoes had plenty of friction material still on them, so I simply kept it all assembled for simplicity, cleaned and then replaced.

But one of them could have been displaced? I shall check, thanks! :)
 
Sadly that hasn't worked. I've done something stoopid, I'm sure. I'll take the drum off, but I'd better cancel tomorrow afternoon's MoT as I won't get time to sort it before :(

Here's the handbrake cable. All wrong...

.View attachment 111872
Oops! If you have time in the morning it'll probably be very obvious. I spotted the mistake we made and had it sorted in minutes.
 
Sadly at work now. Contemplating either re-booking the MoT for next week and fix it tomorrow morning, or take it for an inevitable fail, identify any problems and fix it tomorrow morning and re-test ....
 
I would think that there's a mistake when reassembling. The cables should be pretty close in length. Your offside cable is pulling through to far.
I'm sure you'll spot it, the moment you take the drum off :)
 
Tyanks chaps. I'll spend some time tomorrow looking at this - and as you say Mike have a look at the other side.

I am wary that the car hand binding brakes when I got it so it would make sense to look at both sides.

Go for MoT or not though? It'll fail of course but might highlight anything I've missed?
 
Well, having given it some thought, I've managed to move it to Monday. Gives me a couple of hours to have another look at the brakes on Saturday. It'll be something simple I'm sure!
 
When I had a similar issue one of the levers was on the wrong side something or other. Sorry can't be more specific than that but I had similar symptoms with the handbrake not working on that side and a rubbing noise from the hub. Whip the hubs off both sides and you'll spot it in no time.
 
Now sorted :)

I took the drum off again, and everything appeared to be as it should. I then took the shoes off.

Back plate looks like this (after cleaning):

image.jpeg


A lot of surface corrosion as you can see. The drum mounts to the back plate on a thin circular steel lip: this has completely rotted away along its lower half. You can see this most clearly if you look where the handbrake cable enters.

At this point my phone went flat, so apologies, no more pictures...

But I realised my oversight: as you mention Ali, there is a hand brake actuator lever on the shoe assembly. On mine, it was completely seized.

Luckily I was able to free it off and get it moving freely. I didn't lubricate it: I am afraid that if it were lubricated it would attract brake dust and gum up.

Now reassembled and the handbrake works again and all seems well :D

MoT tomorrow pm, so fingers crossed! :)
 
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