Brake Question?????

[dareguy]

I just got my Series III back, the brakes have been completely redone with new parts. My right rear tire will rotate clockwise, but it is extremely difficult to rotate it counter clockwise. I took the brake drum off and everything looks reasonably normal. Any ideas as to what is causing this and what I could do to fix it?

[Leslie]

Try adjusting the brake adjuster to not be quite as tight.

[dareguy]

I did loosen it some, but I will try even more. Thanks

[JayGoss]

Are the shoes genuine or non-genuine? The reason I ask is there is a known issue with non-genuine brake shoes being made with an improper radius. What happens is the leading and trailing edges make contact with the drums but the rest of the shoe doesn't. Brake performance suffers. Sometimes you can get away with crappy brake performance until the brake's leading/trailing edges wear down to the point where the shoe finally makes proper contact and generates the friction it was always supposed to. In other cases it's more severe (as I suspect in your case) and the brake shoe binds, making the wheel difficult to rotate or, in my case, lock up in reverse. I recently went through a process of trying 2 or 3 different aftermarket shoe brands from different suppliers and had the same results you're having. I found out in the end that the same company was making the shoes (I think it's Bendix or something) for the different manufacturers so it was a waste of my time and money. A set of genuine shoes was installed and the fit was perfect. To test this take the drum off and place the shoe inside. You may be able to see poor fit- if not take a business card and slide it in between the shoe and the inner drum- I'll bet you won't be able to get the card in between the leading/trailing edges of the drum but it will slide right in between the space at the center/top of the shoe. You can sand down the leading and trailing edges of the shoe until you get a more uniform fit but if you have to remove a ton of material you'll obviously decrease the life of the shoes significantly. If you can get your mechanic to return the shoes and get a set of genuine shoes I'll bet they will fit better, it will be safer and you'll be happier. The price of genuine shoes has come down a bit compared to a year ago. Another option is to obtain an old set of worn out shoes with the proper radius and have them re-lined. Even though Series brakes aren't anything compared to modern brakes you should be able to lock them up (or come close) in a simulated panic stop- and they should allow you to drive in reverse without dragging. Good luck with your brakes- hopefully this will save you some time troubleshooting.

[Donnie]

I just got my Series III back, the brakes have been completely redone with new parts. My right rear tire will rotate clockwise, but it is extremely difficult to rotate it counter clockwise. I took the brake drum off and everything looks reasonably normal. Any ideas as to what is causing this and what I could do to fix it?
On the brake shoe fit, find an old timer that has been in his shop since the 60's
Does not have to be a Rover spec., allmost all shops that did brake work back then had a shoe grinder that could grind the shoe to fit the drum..Some of these machines are still around, altho, the clean air laws of '71 ? put the kibosh on grindind shoe's I.E. :ass-bestos..alerted the empire>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Don't breathe the dust, altho depending on where the shoes came from (COO)
it is not likely to contain the former...Brake mfgs. have been scrambling 4 years 2 find an adequate replacment...thus the noise, fast wearing out, hard to stop, etc,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,bla bla bla