[vduk]

Some time back I had a garage change the hand brake cables on my 53 plate 112. In a relatively short space of time the handle was coming most of the way back. As I am losing faith in garages, I decided to see what was up with it; I did wonder if the new cable had stretched and just needed a bit of adjustment. I couldn't see any cable adjusters so decided to take one of the back wheels off. I removed the disc caliper and then the hand brake drum. The brake shoes seem to be on the piss and seemed to be operating on the chamfered section of the drum which has chamfered off the linings. The spiny adjuster wheel was pushed against the spring that holds the the shoes together which didn't look right. The ends of the shoes that located in either end of the adjuster mechanism were bent. I dressed them flat with a hammer and replaced them. The back plate was pretty rusted and every part seemed very sloppy. I don't know how it should be and I'm wondering if all the parts are there. The top spring doesn't look right and I did wonder if there should be some sort of automatic adjustment.

Can anyone help with a parts diagram or similar so I have some idea of what I should be doing.

Many thanks

Rlaph

 

[bottlerocket]

this guy takes his apart. not sure if this is any help for the assembly. but anyhow.

 

[jimmyjames]

Great post, mate, and top work, YouTube man. The soundtrack made me pine for a thin tie...

 

[[email protected]]

the back plates rot and the bits fall into the brake "well" .. mine jammed completely.

there is a single adjuster bolt on the connector between front and back cables.

the adjuster wheel IS MEANT to rest on the spring to stop it turning from vibrations.

My front cable end ferrule broke, where it enters the front/rear connector. needed new cable, which I fitted (as ferrules are not replaceable) but its a sod of a job since the cable runs over the fuel tank and has a clamp part way.

 

[vduk]

Thanx for the input.

The video was interesting, but sadly is about a Sprinter which is pretty different, though the adjustment method might be common.

I'm guessing the parts such as springs and backplate etc are only going to be available from the Merc main agents?. I'm most concerned about the way the shoes had moved to one side and want to do something to prevent this re-occurring.

 

[zenedge]

I've got a problem with my handbrake too, i changed the shoes and pads last year and the handbrake was ace :thumbsup: but shortly after, i found that the handbrake would jam on a little when i release it.

It frees off if i roll the van back a little before driving off, but that's not always possible, sometimes i have to pull away to get out of the road of traffic etc. then stop at the roadside to roll it back.

And it's definately no good come MOT time.

When i was fitting the shoes, getting the drum over them was a tight fit, so i kind of rubbed away the leading and trailing edges of the ferodo part of the shoe before fitting... i'd have thought doing this would have stopped the shoe biting in to the drum and sticking, but apparently not.

Anybody any ideas on that??? I've not taken it apart yet to have a look coz i've not been using the van much over the summer months.

Cheers,

Gordon.

 

[jonny rash]

I will take a look at my brakes next week and take some pictures. I have to replace cable to the left wheel because the outer has split and it just concertinas up when I pull the handbrake.

I also replaced the shoes and discs in July and was surprised at how tight the shoes were on the drum. It doesn't seem right to have to file down new brake shoes

 

[aston]

good post on youtube but not sure about using the diff as a jacking point!
cast alloy is no substitute for chasis ,,,,

 

[transcrit]

I will take a look at my brakes next week and take some pictures. I have to replace cable to the left wheel because the outer has split and it just concertinas up when I pull the handbrake.

I also replaced the shoes and discs in July and was surprised at how tight the shoes were on the drum. It doesn't seem right to have to file down new brake shoes

Hi there

Saw that you guys replaced the back drums and shoes etc. on your Vito/V class. I'm dong the same and its a nightmare to get the drum back on over the shoes. Cant understand what I'm doing wrong, hand brake cables are slackened, star adjustment screw is all the way in at the top of the shoes. I got one drum on but I have to bang it like hell and then put on the wheel and try with all my strength to get it to move bit by bit (and I haven't even put on the new pads yet not to mention tightened the cable.

Any tips?

 

[s2vto]

just done my dads 108 vito

his handbrake always been useless

I changed the rear discs and pads... when you take the rear disc off you can see the shoes, make sure they are lined up properly... you will see a small wheel cog which you need to unwind completely. Then fit discs and pads back on. Put the wheel back on but leave one nut out. You then need to adjust the wheel cog each side the same amount of times until the handbrake works correctly. The garage failed to fix it but I sorted it. takes a bit of time and can be fiddly but if you park on a flat area you can push the wheels to access the cog wheel that is inside the nut hole. passengers side is 10 past 2 and drivers side is 10 to 2 if that makes sense

you can just use a flat screwdriver, hope this helps

obviously if you just need to adjust handbrake there is no need to take the discs off just take one nut out of the wheel

 

[walsi]

Hi ya, as s2vto says but you should not be having to hammer the drum on it should go on with a bit of a wiggle. Bloke up the road did his smart car a couple of weeks ago and didnt slacken the adjuster right off, he hammered the drum on and tried to drive down the road to slacken the brakes off. He didnt get much more than 100ft and that was that. Had to go up the road with a trolley jack and raise the car so we could get it out of the centre of the road. Brakes were locked solid and it was one hell of a job to get the drums off, he had lost a linning on each rear wheel and they were all jammed up.
You should never ever hammer a drum on, if it wont slide on easily with a bit of a wiggle there is something wrong, find what it is before you go any further and save ypourself a lot of aggro later

Cheers Martin

 

[transcrit]

Thanks guys lads for all the input...I ended up banging one drum/rotor on and with the second one I filed the metal edged of the shoes (where they enter the star adjuster screw), along with sanding the inside of drum and surface of shoes. When in with some lesser banging. Put my pads on too, then "broke the pads in". Brakes got warm as hell and I was worried there for a while but it seem that brakes need a certain about of heat in the beginning to leave a film on the disks/rotors. Drove 200 km with no problems, just applying brakes normally. Just moving the van this morning however I notice that the hand brake signal is keeping on and I have to apply release the hand brake several times to get rid of the beeping. Thing is that I had slackened the cable adjuster (a lot) under the van before putting on shoes and never tightened it since the wheels were hard to turn in the beginning, but they turn fine now. Should I tighten this cable again? To stop this sticking signal when using the handbrake?

 

[walsi]

Hi ya, i would jack the back of the van up if i were you and loosen the hand brake adjusters so that you can get the drums off and check if you have done any damage and then adjust them so they are just touching the linnings, if you have to bang the drums on you have done something wrong and i can't stress this enough. The brakes should not be getting hot and if they are the brakes are binding. I had similar problems with a smart car a few weeks ago when the owner had hammered the drums on, his brakes locked on in the middle of the road and we had to jack the car up to move it.
There should be no need to sand the shoes off if you have slackened the adjusters right off, you risk as he did having the linning come off the shoe and jamming the back wheels up.

Cheers Martin

 

[walsi]

I will also add that by getting the brakes that hot you have proberly caused the pads and linnings to glaze which means they will have lost some of there efficenty, i would just rough them up with some coarse sand paper. Brake pads and linnings need to bed in gently at first before they are used aggressively which is why the pads on new cars allways last longer than your second set because you go a lot slower and smoother when you are running a new car in

Martin

As way of a p.s you dont adjust the hand brake on the cable you adjust it on the wheel cylinders first so that the linnings are just touching the drums and then if you need to alter the hand brake position you adjust the cable

 

[Hodgy]

I had to replace my rear drum/discs, pads and shoes for the mot last year, I bought Mintex parts, cleaned everythin up while it was apart including the adjuster, everything then went back together with no need for any force or hammering.

As Martin says, if you have to hammer the drums back on then there is something very wrong, take it apart again and check, or it will end in tears!

 

[s2vto]

no they should not get hot, seems you have got them too tight

 

[transcrit]

Well I jacked the car up on a lift and tightened the cable under the vehicle and that stopped the problem of the warning signal coming on when the hand/foot brake was released...it wasn't releasing properly...this signal must come from somewhere on the actual cable because the back wheels were spinning freely (i.e. no shoes where being applied to the rotors). I guess that the shoes inside the rotors have adjusted themselves properly and spaced off from the rotors because they can freely spin with the handbrake off. Most modern brake pads function in a combination of adherence and friction it seems (the old ones used to only work by friction). The adherence comes from a film being built up on the rotor in the breaking in process heat must be involved here in periodic heating / cooling of the pads/rotors. I've been told this by an engineer...they seem to be working better than ever now and are not heating up in the slightest. I could be wrong and will be crying here again soon. My new shoes must have been slightly bigger than the originals... I screwed the adjusters in all the way on both...the brake cable may have been too loose however the mechanism looked like it was not in the working position but I was afraid to tighten that cable in case it pulled those shoes even further out. More will be revealed I suppose.

 

[walsi]

Hi ya, i was just trying to help but you obviously know more about brakes than i do so i will bow down to your superiour knowledge and that of your engineer friend, obviously EBC have got it wrong along with Ferodo and several other brake manufacturers who state the opposite about bedding barke pads and discs in.

Cheers Martin

 

[s2vto]

as long as they are all sorted it is all good

 

[transcrit]

Thanks for your input everyone. I hope I didn't come over as "a know all"...it's the opposite actually. I'm here to learn and I hope that anybody can learn from my mistakes. With the help of this forum I managed to carry out major engine work on my V280 last summer, including porting the head etc. Car runs fantastic and I appreciate all the help I've been offered. I have read the brake manufacturers' instructions suggested by Martin and I feel that I have not diverged too much from the recommendations which these suggest. Brakes seem fine now anyway,

Regards, transcrit.