Series 3 Brakes are useless after offroading....

Folks,

I have a 1984 S3 that I like to take offroading as often as possible.

However, after each trip, I end up having to take the truck back to the garage to get the brakes cleaned out and re-set, as the fronts stop working completely, meaning that it just drags the rear tyres under heavy braking. I'm not mechanically minded enough to do this at home and figure that properly working brakes are quite important, so don't want to potentially bodge them.

Is this something that I will have to live with due to the drum brakes, or is there something (aside from not going through water!!!) that I can do to stop this from happening? Is there an alternative option to investing £££ in disk brakes to make my drums perform better after they have been through mud and water?

I'm completely aware that drums hate water and need a bit of drying off after going through deep water, but even after the dragging the brakes for a good couple of miles to get them really hot, I still have no front brake performance whatsoever and widn up with a long pedal and an alarming pull under reasonably heavy braking. Once they have been cleaned out and set up again, they perform brilliantly.

nope ,clean water will dry out allright muddy water will just fill drums mud ,you can fit expensive disc kit or modify disc axles to fit (would need someone with good mechanical experience )your cheapest option is to learn how to remove drums and clean out brakes properly though unless you check /drain oil /clean in wheel bearings axles ,swivels and transmission muddy water wading will cause more expensive issues

On my series 3 off roader have drilled out the small holes in the drum edge to 10 mm, this helps get rid of the crud.

I've never, ever had an issue... and i've done a lot of laning and off-roading in a 1964 series with drum brakes...

worth getting the garage to show you what they are doing, so, you can do it yourself.

Sadly, the P&P venue I go to is pretty muddy (4x4WAC in Aldermaston), so it is nigh on impossible to avoid getting silty water into the drums.

I like the idea of drilling out the holes to 10mm.

Upon further investigation just now, it appears that I may have a leak somewhere in the system, as there was no brake fluid in it at all and the pedal is really long, with only the rears working. I have topped up the fluid, but haven't bled the system.

I've booked her in for Friday, so I'll ask my mechanic to drill out holes in the drum edge and bleed the system and chase out the leak.

you will need to check the other parts too ,mud will get into wheel bearings etc

Will do. It's time for a general service anyway, so I'll get him to look through everything

jamesmartin said:

you will need to check the other parts too ,mud will get into wheel bearings etc

Click to expand...

the only reason mud will get into the wheel bearings is if the hub seals are missing/tatered, at which point it won't matter as the lubricant will have long ago vanished and the bearings will already be screaming or heat welded themselves solid, it's very rare for mud to get into the wheel bearings

i think you might call this sunk in mud (actually very sandy/gritty silt)

Almost Sunk Video by NiteMare_08 | Photobucket

and five minutes later in the same hole

Oops Video by NiteMare_08 | Photobucket

all that happened was my drums filled up with silt and wore the brake shoes out faster, i had to adjust them after getting home

you'll find the mud not only gets in the drums but also once in there it sits on the back of the shoes, this mud steadily falls back off onto the braking surface of the drum increasing wear and reducing your braking effect until it's cleaned out

most folks i meet at Sibbertoft drive there in thier play toy and then drive home in it loaded back up with thier camping gear etc', amongst the Series owners i meet there i think i've only seen one trailered vehicle that was built purely for offroad use