Relining the Brakes

October 03:

Being purely mechanical, the brakes worked even after having stood for 25 years.   Subsequently all linings were found to be down to the rivets though the steel drums have not been damaged by the rivet heads!

April 06:

the old linings were well past their sell-by date and were of the old asbestos woven type.

the new linings look much better!  They have a wired base but feel rather plasticky (which I suppose they are, really)

For the last 40+ years I have fitted linings by the old punch and hammer method to my Rover 90 without any problems

however this time I had a small hand press to help and as a result ended up with much neater rivet tails.

This did away with the need for three hands to hold the hammer/shoe/punch simultaneously!

This did away with the need for three hands to hold the hammer/shoe/punch simultaneously!

and this gave the fairly neat result:

and this gave the fairly neat result:

the brakes are so simple! - with no hydraulics or mechanical wedges or adjusters to worry about.    Against that, it was a bit of a fiddle getting the shoes off & on as the return springs are quite strong.

The Handbook recommends taking the hubs off with the hub extractor (available from Available Austins), but it is possible to fit the bottom spring to the shoes, then put the shoes in place and then extend the top spring to loop over the hook.   Use strong pliers and leather protective gloves!

The rear brakes, however, showed evidence of minor leaks from the half-shaft seals, so these  seals had to be replaced  before the new linings could be fitted.