Si Click

Well-Known Member
At the weekend my son and I replaced the LT230 rear output oil seal on his TD5 90. Understandably this involved replacing the brake shoes on the (cable operated) drum as they were heavily contaminated. All straightforward stuff, and a can of brake cleaner and some swearing at the pivot pins later, the brake was ready for adjustment. The adjustment bolt was tightened to 18 ftlb, the drum confirmed as locked and the bolt slackened of one and half turns.

First question. At this point the shoes could be heard lightly scraping the drum for half rotation, but completely free the second half. Further slackening of the bolt did not remove this slight bind. After a short road test there was a definite smell of hot brake pad and the drum was now warm. Is this light binding normal on changing these shoes and should we just ignore it, or have we likely fitted something the wrong way around? We have taken the drum off to check, but everything seemed normal.

Second question. We should have a brake lever that fully applies the brake at the third ratchet, but is does not fully lock the drum until the final notch on the pawl. Clearly I would like to adjust the cable, but it is really unclear how. RAVE just advises that cable adjustment should on be done on initial fitting, but doesn't say how. The new cable fitment instructions just say adjust the locking nut. What locking nut? I cannot see anything on either end of the cable. Is the adjuster where the cable comes out from the bulkhead behind the lever?
 
At the weekend my son and I replaced the LT230 rear output oil seal on his TD5 90. Understandably this involved replacing the brake shoes on the (cable operated) drum as they were heavily contaminated. All straightforward stuff, and a can of brake cleaner and some swearing at the pivot pins later, the brake was ready for adjustment. The adjustment bolt was tightened to 18 ftlb, the drum confirmed as locked and the bolt slackened of one and half turns.

First question. At this point the shoes could be heard lightly scraping the drum for half rotation, but completely free the second half. Further slackening of the bolt did not remove this slight bind. After a short road test there was a definite smell of hot brake pad and the drum was now warm. Is this light binding normal on changing these shoes and should we just ignore it, or have we likely fitted something the wrong way around? We have taken the drum off to check, but everything seemed normal.

Second question. We should have a brake lever that fully applies the brake at the third ratchet, but is does not fully lock the drum until the final notch on the pawl. Clearly I would like to adjust the cable, but it is really unclear how. RAVE just advises that cable adjustment should on be done on initial fitting, but doesn't say how. The new cable fitment instructions just say adjust the locking nut. What locking nut? I cannot see anything on either end of the cable. Is the adjuster where the cable comes out from the bulkhead behind the lever?
wind the adjuster off till drums spins free to check wind it in a little till it drags then back, if you undo the 2 bolts holding hand brake lever bracket to the seat box you can pull it away with the cable ,you can then adjust the cable directly behind the bracket
 
Thanks James. One final question, is there anyway I can rotate the drum to check free rotation without disconnecting the prop shaft? It's not difficult, just time consuming.
 
OK done, thanks James. With the drum just free running it took all of the available cable adjustment to get a locked drum on the last ratchet of the pawl. New cable needed I think.
 
I used to have to strip and refurb the handbrake drum every year before MOT I expect mainly because of light off road and wading but I don't think they are great anyway. If you plan to keep the vehicle for many years I would recommend getting an x-brake conversion which is a heavy duty disk brake. Had mine on 4 years now and not had to touch it since. Quite expensive though so not worth it unless plan to keep vehicle longer term.
 
Yes, I did adjust the cable. I took the handbrake bracket off and was able to pull the adjusting nuts into the cabin. Even exposing as much thread as I dare the cable will not tighten enough to lock the transmission at the 3rd notch. I'm assuming the cable is original and has stretched.

Seriously considering a disc conversion as I hate working on drums. The saving grace is that once set up and assuming they don't get contaminated by oil again, they should last a very long time. Trouble is we will have to dissemble them again to fit the new cable.
 

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