steve b

New Member
Hi

I have a defender 90 truck cab on a c plate. My handbrake warning light does not work and as a result I drove for some time over the fields with the brake on. Only realising when I smelt burning. After this the brake wont hold the vehicle.

I bought new shoes and set about changing them as I assumed that i had worn down the friction material. When I got the brake apart there was loads of material left so I overhauled the actuator as it was full of dust and not returning properly when the handbrake released and re assembled the unit adjusting the brake so it comes on tight at four clicks. The brake still does not hold. it is good enough on light gradients but no good on anything else. Could it be that i literally cooked the friction material, glazing it so it wont hold on the inside of the brake housing. Should I have cleaned the inside of the housing with brake cleaner (I had none at the time so did not bother.

Would either of these make much of a difference??????????

any advice gratefully received

steveb
 
as its an easy item to strip down again - I would be inclined to wash the drum and backplate with petrol and run sandpaper over the shoes to take off the surface glazing. its easy enuf then to regrease the adjuster and oil the linkage - about 2 hours to do the lot.
 
Just replace the shoes at least that way you know they've been done and have eliminated 1 possible cause.
 
Had the same problem after foolishly letting the wife drive me 110. However after a couple of days everything has returned to normal and the handbrake works fine again. I can only assume that some glazing of the shoes had taken place and this has now been worn off. Moral of the story.....don't let yer missus drive yer Landy.;)
 
Had the same problem after foolishly letting the wife drive me 110. However after a couple of days everything has returned to normal and the handbrake works fine again. I can only assume that some glazing of the shoes had taken place and this has now been worn off. Moral of the story.....don't let yer missus drive yer Landy.;)

Oh so it's not just me that thinks that every time the missues drives any of me landies i find a new problem or noise that wasnt there before.
 
Oh so it's not just me that thinks that every time the missues drives any of me landies i find a new problem or noise that wasnt there before.
No. Mine seems to drive like she's trying to break something, crunching the gears, hitting kerbs, it's a terrifying experience as a passenger. Then she gets out and says "I enjoyed that" while I'm still white as a sheet with me eyes shut tight. What I don't understand is she drives any other vehicle fine:rolleyes:
 
My wife literaly drove 200 foot. Stopped in the middle of the road got out and vowed never to drive it again....
 
Mine is actually a very good driver but has no mechanical sympathy; she assumes an 18+ years old vehicle can be driven in the same manner as our 2 year old Mazda six, I also get very nervous when she drives the landies – but I took her out in the series last night through a very narrow country lane, very very bumpy with plenty of trees on either side to increase the sensation of speed.

She doesn’t know the road at all but I drive it twice a day so I know how fast it can be driven, she wasn’t best pleased but it’s good to know I can also have the ability to make her nervous - I’d forgotten how much fun driving at 25MPH can be.

Nice overdrive for sale here if anyone is interested.
 
I was hoping my missus was going to hate my 110 but she loves it as much as me. :)

She has also probably got more mechanical know how than me which I am embaressed to admit :eek:

But as she drives more than me I can also blame her for the fact that it keeps going wrong.:mad:
 

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