ZX: one locked rear brake

Village · Post by **Village** » 25 Oct 2006, 19:46

As I was leaving home to go to my guitar lesson (I'm rock and roll me

), I backed the car up to get out of my parking space, having gone a metre or 2 the car suddenly stopped. I thought I'd run into something, but there was nothing behind me. I tried to pull forward but the car wouldn't move other than to dip at the rear. The dip is uneven i.e. it dips harder to one side, so I reckon that one of the rear brakes has locked on.

The car is a '97 ZX TD Dimension with drum rear brakes and no ABS.

Any ideas would be gratefully received. I'm hoping its something I can fix myself as getting it to a garage would be V difficult.

Thanx in advance.

Pete

jeremy · Post by **jeremy** » 25 Oct 2006, 20:17

Handbrakes on these are troublesome as the years go on and its probably worth doing the job properly once rather than having a lifetime's work.

Dipping on one side meand that its stuck on the side that dips.

Usual faults are - cables - rot and sieze - aboyt £12 per side.

When you take the drum to bits you will find that the shoes have gone - not expensive. The self adjuster will probably need overhauling - and should be washed thoroughly to remove all dirt and old grease then the thread should be greased and the wheel would up and down a few times to get the grease under the thread. be careful to get the little angled plate which operates the spring back in the correct place.

Backplate corrodes and needs cleaning off and painting - as the shoes rub on it and won't move properly if its rusty.

Its fun getting it back properly with the springs. A couple of new nuts (£1.50 + VAT each) should be used and staked after tightening. However before staking make sure the adjuster can be heard to click when the pedal is pushed. If not investigate why the adjuster isn't working properly.

These instructions apply to the Bendix brakes - Girling will be similar.

slim123 · Post by **slim123** » 25 Oct 2006, 20:39

Most common cause of this (i've found) is that due to corrosion, one of the brake shoes will have lost the lining, this lining will spin round inside the drum and become trapped between the other shoe and the drum.

There aint enough room for this to happen, therefore the wheel locks.

This will also mean that the drum will be an absolute bitch to get off.

Have fun!!

Regards
Slim

Village · Post by **Village** » 25 Oct 2006, 20:52

thanks for the prompt responses. I'm off work at the mo, so I'll take a look tomorrow. Fingers crossed that the rain holds off......

weety · Post by **weety** » 25 Oct 2006, 23:02

vauxhalls used to be prone to doing this....sometimes you get lucky and its just the springs not retracting as they should......some of the time a gentle tap with a large hammer with get the springs to work again.....

makes it a bit easier to get the drum of

Village · Post by **Village** » 28 Oct 2006, 22:20

as I was unable to get the rear drum off (don't on a 32mm socket) I got a couple of blokes that the National Tyres found to come and whip it off. Both shoes were b*ggered and the bearing material had come off both of them!! I then carefully drove the 200m to National Tyres where they replaced the shoes, cylinders (both shot) and fluid for just over 200 squids.

not sure if that's a good price, but right now I'm chuffed the damn thing moves again!!

The service I got from National Tyres in Aylesbury was second to none, I can't recommend them enough!

Although that branch may not be all that convieniently located for all of you...............