Drum Brake Damage - Post mortem?

[fenns7]

OK, altho' I try to do much of the work on my XJ myself -with help from the experts on this site - there are some jobs where I neither have the facilities (I have to work on-street) nor the ability which I hand over to a local mechanic. To date he has done a great job at reasonable price and doesn't get upset when I print off XJ specific instructions/guides to help.


A couple of years ago he replaced the original drum brakes (by then 20 years old) but on collection there was a distinct rubbing noise which I took to be a lack of adjustment on the brake shoes. I did a couple of very low speed hard stops to try and force an adjustment and I recall a bang and the rubbing noise continued so returned the XJ for him to sort it out. He took the drum off and filed something - maybe the shoe edge - but I wasn't paying close attention.


Anyhow, the noise had stopped and the XJ has been ok for two years until a few weeks ago when a 'dragging' noise started again and I decided I would attempt the job myself - confidence restored by the great tutiorials and photos on this site.


Here's what greeted me when I opened up the brake shoes:





That's the trailing edge shoe on the right side. That's some force applied to bend that Here's the end of the brake cylinder that the 'toe' on the shoe would have pressed on:





The left side was a mirror image:





and this shows the extent of the bend in the brake shoe arm which also bent the metal retaining tab - both circled:





So, how did this happen? Everything seemed to have been fitted exactly as instructed - even the green spring that holds the arm to the star wheel had been correctly orientated (an otherwise v. common error) - so he'd taken care. I'd really like to have opinions on what went wrong here so I can advise him - I'm sure he'll credit me the cost/labour against future jobs.


The inside of the drum itself was scored up where the top of the brake shoe was distorted so I've replaced the entire drum brake unit myself which was a big learning curve but very satisfying and I now own another set of new tools !


What was impressive was the handbrake (e-brake in the US) worked well and still held the truck on steep inclines and other than the recent noise gave no impression anything was wrong!

[RCP Phx]

Can't tell a lot because of the crappy pics, but it look like something froze up do to lack of lubrication/rust. Would be a great time for a disc brake conversion!

[fenns7]

If you click on any of the crappy pics Phoenix, you should see a much larger non-crappy pic



Now I've mastered them I like the old skool drum brakes - properly set up they work very well.

[maxbraketorque]

Totally OT, but how many XJs are on the road in London?

[RCP Phx]

Originally Posted by fenns7

If you click on any of the crappy pics Phoenix, you should see a much larger non-crappy pic



Now I've mastered them I like the old skool drum brakes - properly set up they work very well.

If you "mastered" them, you wouldn't be having this problem!

[RCP Phx]

BTW, the brake only self-adjust when going in reverse.

[XJI6191]

Originally Posted by RCP Phx

Can't tell a lot because of the crappy pics, but it look like something froze up do to lack of lubrication/rust. Would be a great time for a disc brake conversion!

A disc. conversion's not really an option in the UK because the parts aren't readily available.

[XJI6191]

Originally Posted by maxbraketorque

Totally OT, but how many XJs are on the road in London?

I'd say 1/2-dozen was optimistic

[RCP Phx]

Originally Posted by XJI6191

A disc. conversion's not really an option in the UK because the parts aren't readily available.

You can buy the stuff NEW on EBAY, you surely have access to that!

[four_shot]

I hope that the wheel cylinder was replaced. That much catastrophic damage is a safety hazard.

What are the chances that you could send a pic of the finished product? I'm concerned with the location of the adjuster cable. It should be on the trailing shoe (on the right in the photo) not the leading. Unless I'm mistaken in your description.

If you do post please specify left or right side. Cheers!