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e-brake stuck on

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Rich - Sorry I don't have L-shaped e-brake lever but I do have the following - 1 - 4 pc set - front axle only Austin Healey 53 - 55 to 57, 2 - 8pc set - front and rear axles 56 BN2, 3 - 8pc set - front and rear axles Austin Healey 53 - 54. Is the BN2 set, the same as for the BN4. It is definitely an impressive improvement from the early 53-54 set Jim:driving:
 
Patrick67BJ8 said:
Rich, Can you take some pics of both levers that go to the rectangular holes in the shoes and post them? Also, can you remove both pistons from each of the adjusters easily or do they bind?
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Yes, no binding.
Here's the one with the L-end

a8845409-7531-48dc-be53-226c1dcde817-1.jpg
 
richberman said:
Yes, no binding.
Here's the one with the L-end

a8845409-7531-48dc-be53-226c1dcde817-1.jpg
Click to expand...
Are both "L" the same on both sides? Was the E-Brake working before you took the car apart?
Next question: Disconnect the E-Brake cable near the R/H rear brake and then adjust the brakes. After adjusting, bleed the system. With the E-Brake handle at it's full "off" position see where the cable end falls with relation to the pivot hook-up point for both rear brakes. If it's not centered where you can "drop" in the "pin", then back-off the nut at the fork end of the cable and adjust the fork end until the pin drops in. I

did my E-Brake system adjust just a couple of days ago with no problems. I had completely dismantled the whole system so I had to start from scratch with everything.
 
Patrick67BJ8 said:
Are both "L" the same on both sides? Was the E-Brake working before you took the car apart?
Next question: Disconnect the E-Brake cable near the R/H rear brake and then adjust the brakes. After adjusting, bleed the system. With the E-Brake handle at it's full "off" position see where the cable end falls with relation to the pivot hook-up point for both rear brakes. If it's not centered where you can "drop" in the "pin", then back-off the nut at the fork end of the cable and adjust the fork end until the pin drops in. I

did my E-Brake system adjust just a couple of days ago with no problems. I had completely dismantled the whole system so I had to start from scratch with everything.
Click to expand...

1)No, only right side has the L, the side that popped out is just straight on the end.
2)Car was apart when I bought it so don't know.
3)Cable did not line up with passive fit of clevis pin. In fact I had to fully tighten the fork at the end of the e-brake cable to get it to hold the brakes at all and handle was fully pulled up.
My assessment is that Andy is right, the lining are too thin on an oversized drum causing the shoes to have to move further than specs. to engage the drums. That explains why the adjusters need to be tightened so much and why the straight ended e-lever pops out and why I had a tough time with e-brake cable adjustment. I'm working on replacing the shoes with thicker lined shoes and as a safety, replacing the straight lever with the one shown above.
I'll keep this thread up to date as I make progress.
thanks for all the input. I love this forum!
rich
 
Update:
Drums are exactly 11 inches I.D. but repro linings are only slightly greater than 1/8 inch thick. Plan:replace e-brake lever with correct L-shaped one and replace shoes with ones which are 1/4 inch thick linings, back off e-brake cable to clevis pins are passive when off. readjust everything and re-bleed.
Hopefully it will happen this weekend.
thanks,
rich
 
Rich- it is a scary thought that you have assembled your otherwise standard brake system with repro shoes and made a potential death trap. In some ways you were lucky that the e-brake problem highlighted the hydraulic failure risk when you backed off the adjuster and that you weren't stopping in an emergency at the time.

I wonder how many others have used the same components and are running with the likelihood of having total brake system failure if they don't keep the adjustment up.

When your new shoes arrive, could you please line up the new and old shoes next to each other, standing upright with the lining facing up? I'd be interested to see how much smaller the first set of shoes is.

Andy.
 
57_BN4 said:
Rich- it is a scary thought that you have assembled your otherwise standard brake system with repro shoes and made a potential death trap. In some ways you were lucky that the e-brake problem highlighted the hydraulic failure risk when you backed off the adjuster and that you weren't stopping in an emergency at the time.

I wonder how many others have used the same components and are running with the likelihood of having total brake system failure if they don't keep the adjustment up.

When your new shoes arrive, could you please line up the new and old shoes next to each other, standing upright with the lining facing up? I'd be interested to see how much smaller the first set of shoes is.

Andy.
Click to expand...
Andy,
The new ones just arrived and the linings are 3/16" vs. 1/8th for the repro ones I purchased from a reputable UK supplier. I think the real problem was the non-L-shaped e-brake lever that was with my car, locking the brake on. It will be interesting to see how many turns it takes to bind the new shoes "on". When you said, "no more than 4-5 flats" was that to just making a scraping sound or flat out binding tight? If I still have too many turns my next approach will be to assess the adjuster tappets for wear.
 
The difference between shoes almost touching and fully locked on is usually about 4 flats in my experience. The car I did today was two flats between not touching and correct adjustment then another two flats to locked on- although it isn't possible to pull the adjuster over the last flat as it gets too stiff. It was in total about two turns (8 flats) from starting to feel the adjuster contacting the tappets to correct adjustment. These are re-lined shoes ground to the drum ID.

Andy.
 
Ok, I got the new L-lever and new brake shoes installed. It only takes 10 flats now to completely binding (instead of 32). The new shoes are a full 1/8" thicker. So now my question has to do with setting the e-brake tension. If I put the e-brake handle all the way down (dis-engaged) and I set the rear adjustment so that the clevis pins fit almost tension free, in order the get the brakes to engage fully I need to pull the handle almost totally up. If I thread the rear adjustment tighter then the clevis pins are no longer easy to place as I need to pull on the rear mechanism to get the holes to line up. Then the brakes are slightly engaged and I need to relax the shoe adjusters a flat or two to have the wheels spin freely again. What's the correct setting?
Here are some photos of the project.
DSC_0208.jpgDSC_0206.jpgDSC_0215.jpgDSC_0219.jpgDSC_0220.jpgDSC_0221.jpgDSC_0222.jpg
 
It is hard to get the e-brake to perfection before the shoes have bedded into the drums so err on the slack side first. You don't want the e-brake pulling on the shoes when it is off so better to back off the clevis a little even if it means the handle comes up further than is ideal to start with. Also better to err on the slacker side for the adjuster for initial bed-in. My RH drum gets hot if I set it at the adjustment that feels correct so it has to stay one flat less. Don't know why that is.

How stiff is your e-brake cable? If it has the original grease in it then perhaps it isn't letting the linkages relax fully. Part of the problem is that the grease point isn't half way along the cable so when grease is applied it always comes out of the axle end and nothing goes forward.

Andy.
 
richberman said:
Ok, I got the new L-lever and new brake shoes installed. It only takes 10 flats now to completely binding (instead of 32). The new shoes are a full 1/8" thicker. So now my question has to do with setting the e-brake tension. If I put the e-brake handle all the way down (dis-engaged) and I set the rear adjustment so that the clevis pins fit almost tension free, in order the get the brakes to engage fully I need to pull the handle almost totally up. If I thread the rear adjustment tighter then the clevis pins are no longer easy to place as I need to pull on the rear mechanism to get the holes to line up. Then the brakes are slightly engaged and I need to relax the shoe adjusters a flat or two to have the wheels spin freely again. What's the correct setting?
Here are some photos of the project.
View attachment 29430View attachment 29431View attachment 29432View attachment 29433View attachment 29434View attachment 29435View attachment 29436
Click to expand...
You may a little too much slack on your brake adjustment. Check that first and thenadjusta little more if needed. Drive the car to help bed in the brakes and then readjust them. After that go back to the E-brake handle again and set the clevis pin adjsutement again. The brake adjusters have full and half adjustments turn adjustments so go for as snug as you can get them with just a little drag. Glad to see installing the correct 'L" shaped lever helped.
 
57_BN4 said:
It is hard to get the e-brake to perfection before the shoes have bedded into the drums so err on the slack side first. You don't want the e-brake pulling on the shoes when it is off so better to back off the clevis a little even if it means the handle comes up further than is ideal to start with. Also better to err on the slacker side for the adjuster for initial bed-in. My RH drum gets hot if I set it at the adjustment that feels correct so it has to stay one flat less. Don't know why that is.

How stiff is your e-brake cable? If it has the original grease in it then perhaps it isn't letting the linkages relax fully. Part of the problem is that the grease point isn't half way along the cable so when grease is applied it always comes out of the axle end and nothing goes forward.

Andy.
Click to expand...
E-brake cable is new repro too. The old one had a crack in the metal casing which allowed the grease to ooze out before it made it down the cable. New repro one has black outer casing unlike original metal one, but at least the grease doesn't ooze out. I'll leave the brakes as is until bedded in. I feel better that the e-brake should not lock on anymore with the corrected L-lever. I wonder what the original one I had is from? (PO)
thanks.
 
I just took the car out (after bypassing a faulty fuel fitting)....I hate faulty purchased parts!!!
I can't believe how much better the braking is. Stops on a dime. I was even able to squeal the tires. Couldn't do that before. Now I need a new fuel line to replace the faulty one and a complete tune-up to get rid of the exhaust misfirings.
 
richberman said:
I just took the car out (after bypassing a faulty fuel fitting)....I hate faulty purchased parts!!!
I can't believe how much better the braking is. Stops on a dime. I was even able to squeal the tires. Couldn't do that before. Now I need a new fuel line to replace the faulty one and a complete tune-up to get rid of the exhaust misfirings.
Click to expand...
I've had less problems with my car before I took it all apart to do a frameup than I do now with installing new or refurbished parts!! (no, I'm not exagerating!!).
 
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