Why won't my rear brakes stay in adjustment?

[Straight Six]

When I adjust the rear drums on my Vitesse as per Haynes, it normally does the trick with regard to reducing pedal travel. However, within 500 miles, sometimes less, the increased pedal travel is back. Most annoying! Why is this?

I adjust the brakes so the shoes are not in contact with the drum (been there, done that - a nice firm pedal and lots of smoke...) so I don't think it's the shoes wearing.

Thanks.

[ferny]

Mine's the same. Everything seems fine to my eyes so I can only assume it's natural. I've just replaced the rear shoes on the car and part of the reason was to see if it made any difference. After a couple of hundred miles I had to put them on a couple of clicks.

[G.in_Lux]

Apparently the rear brakes wear out really, really quickly....

[heraldcoupe]

G.in_Belgium wrote:

Apparently the rear brakes wear out really, really quickly....

Not on any Herald I've owned.
Unless there is something different about the current non-asbestos shoes (my experience of these is minimal), they should adjust properly and wear very slowly indeed.
I adjust them until they are tight, then wind them further and further until they will move no more - this ensures that the shoes are centred properly. Now back them off until they just clear.
You need to make sure that the adjusters are free moving, and that the slave cylinder is properly located with clips, and is free to slide properly - copperslip is your friend. I have never had any problems with rear brake adjustment,
Cheers,
Bill.

[G.in_Lux]

Hey! Lets all go visit Bill! ;D

[herald948]

I'll have to agree with Bill here...although I do suspect that the currently available nonasbestos shoes might wear a bit faster than OE-spec. asbestos shoes did way back when. And Peter, regarding "...I've just replaced the rear shoes on the car and part of the reason was to see if it made any difference. After a couple of hundred miles I had to put them on a couple of clicks...": this does not surprise me, if I'm understanding you correctly. It seems rather normal to have to readjust "new" shoes after a relatively short period of time. It's likely because the new shoes may not be perfectly arc'ed to the drum and need some time to bed in and eventually make full contact?

[G.in_Lux]

Definitely a handy thread though... I'm going to have to change my rear shoes as they have about a billion of an inch left on them, and adjustment is rather difficult. (not to metion a siezed bleeding nipple on one)

What more advice can we glean and what further freaky Triumphishness can we expect?

[ferny]

True, but it fits in with the adjustment frequencies of the old shoes.

[Pete Lewis]

one more point is you must ensure there is no tension in the handbrake cable which can artifficially hold the shoes open regardless of what you do with the adjuster,,  disconnect the cable clevis pins then really lock up the adjuster reconnect the cable  and adjust its length to just accept the pins  then  back off the wheel adjusters and make sure the handbrake pull of springs on the cable forks actually do something   Peter

[JohnD]

There is/was a bad batch of brake shoe material out there, I think.
I know it's racing, but so-called 'racing' shoe material should not char and fall apart, as it did for me and the Hadfields recently.  I've had  sets made up for us in what I am assured is Mintex 1155, so we'll see.

Another point - rear brakes must not be adjusted with the car on a jack or axle stands, unless the stand are under the uprights.   Full droop loosens the hand brake cable, so that once it's on the ground again it pulls the brakes up tight.

John

[Nick Jones]

I have (and always have had) similar issues.  Particularly bad just now as one of the drums appears to be oval  :(

So I say 'they all do that sir!'

Nick