Adjusting brakes using hard rear braking

[The_Handier_Man1]

From: ClydesdaleKevin  (Original Message)
Sent: 6/14/2005 1:04 AM

You can call it a miracle if you want, but all I know for sure is that my brakes are now functioning flawlessly.

A couple of weeks ago, I had to gorilla-stomp the brakes, and had about 1/2 the pedal as play until the brakes engaged.  This was AFTER replacing all shoes and hardware, ALL booster vacumm lines and fittings, 5 brake lines, 3 wheel cylinders, and spending enough hours to bleed the brakes 4 times.  This was also after manually adjusting the star wheels in every drum.

In the last couple of weeks getting ready for our fulltime trip, we have had to back the Ark in and out of our friend's quansette hut many times.

All of a sudden the brakes are now up to the top, solid as a rock, I feel confident in the braking ability of our rig, and they brake even with no pulling or deviance.

What caused this?  My first guess is that the automatic adjusters, which are engaged via backward braking, snugged up the shoes.

My second guess is that some stubborn bubble worked its way out of the brake lines.

Any ideas?

Kev and Patti Smith



From: denison
Sent: 6/14/2005 10:52 PM

My guess is that its a combination; Of your new linings wearing-in to the slight grooves in the surfaces of your old drums, and being re-set to proper position by those self-adjusters; And of your boosters freeing up after sitting so long unused.
If there was any bubble that worked its way out of your system, it could only have been in the master cylinder - where a lack of pre-bleeding or bench bleeding the master cylinder before installation can leave a very small amount of air inside the m.c. bore, and which could work its way out when the compensating ports are opened up each time the pedal was fully released.