Breaks locking and ABS query.

[eminox]

Hi, I'm a little concerned about my breaks in that sometimes if you hit the pedal hard the front locks up, no ABS it seems!

It's happened on quite a number of occaisions now, not that I break at the last minute more through testing to see if it's me or the car, and I've found that they are usually better after this initial lock, but then lack of use (20 mins cruise on a clear road etc) brings the old locking problem back.

Any ideas (especially with snow surrounding the area).

Cheers

 

[lacroupade]

Hi, I'm a little concerned about my breaks in that sometimes if you hit the pedal hard the front locks up, no ABS it seems!

It's happened on quite a number of occaisions now, not that I break at the last minute more through testing to see if it's me or the car, and I've found that they are usually better after this initial lock, but then lack of use (20 mins cruise on a clear road etc) brings the old locking problem back.

Any ideas (especially with snow surrounding the area).

Cheers

Ok, so I take it you have no ABS warning light showing?

ABS won't kick in an a dry road unless you are in a serious pickle, its not needed. But on a wet road under heavy braking it should.....you'll feel a "gravelly grinding" sensation through the pedal, accompanied by a low frequency noise that I would describe in the same way.

One thing to check though....I had a problem a while back where my brakes were locking up the second they were touched but it turned out to be the rears causing the issue.....the brake shoes had disintegrated and the bits were rolling about inside the drum, causing irregular braking (I think the brake balance system senses what it thinks is hard braking at the rear - because 2-3 sections of brake material were jamming between the shoe and the drum wall - and so applies undue pressure to the other wheels)....so my immediate suggestion is take both rear drums off and have a look.

I mean when was the last time most people on here looked at their rear brake shoes?? Cheap and simple to replace and drum removal is just a case of screwing in a bolt to the thread provided to push the drums off.

 

[eminox]

Ah, now that sounds very familiar!

Firstly the ABS light very briefly appears when ignition is switched on and is the first light to go out.

Under normal breaking, light pressure etc, I have noticed a wave effect with the breaking effectiveness if that makes sense, like the drums are warped or something is not quite true and was going to leave it until the spring before I started pulling things about, but now might make this more of a priority!

The rears are easy to remove you say, just a bolt in the thread provided, might have to read up first to see whats required, but changed shoes on an old car in the past so no major concerns.

Cheers

 

[lacroupade]

Ah, now that sounds very familiar!

Firstly the ABS light very briefly appears when ignition is switched on and is the first light to go out.

Under normal breaking, light pressure etc, I have noticed a wave effect with the breaking effectiveness if that makes sense, like the drums are warped or something is not quite true and was going to leave it until the spring before I started pulling things about, but now might make this more of a priority!

The rears are easy to remove you say, just a bolt in the thread provided, might have to read up first to see whats required, but changed shoes on an old car in the past so no major concerns.

Cheers

Definitely do it now, because the next stage in the process (which I started to experience before I finally got off my arse and checked!) was that, as the bits of shoe rattled around inside the drum they sometimes collected together to the extent that the brakes came on by themselves....not fun on the motorway at 70mph!!!!! Good luck, cos if its that its a cheap fix, a lot less than a bolloxed ABS sensor!

As I say, the key to it is that later trucks have a brake balancing setup of some kind which can share braking force around, hiding the source of a problem like this.

 

[geoffdown]

Ah, now that sounds very familiar!

Firstly the ABS light very briefly appears when ignition is switched on and is the first light to go out.

Under normal breaking, light pressure etc, I have noticed a wave effect with the breaking effectiveness if that makes sense, like the drums are warped or something is not quite true and was going to leave it until the spring before I started pulling things about, but now might make this more of a priority!

The rears are easy to remove you say, just a bolt in the thread provided, might have to read up first to see whats required, but changed shoes on an old car in the past so no major concerns.

Cheers

before u wind off the rear drums with the m8 1.25 thread is slacken off the adjuster which takes up the handbrake cable slack its on the handbrake a little 10mm nut dont take the whole centre concels out as theres alittle cover below the handbrake which allows u to get a 1/4" inch 10mm socket on a short extension bar how this helps.

 

[lacroupade]

...and just remember when you've scraped your knuckles bloody in the freezing cold and found its all OK, well at least its one less thing to worry about LOL :thumb2