Thursday, January 15, 2009

Brake broke

So a little garaging tonight, I decided it was time to take a look at Molly's nearside back brake. This is the side that needs a new brake pipe, so off with the wheel, and off with the brake drum (to re adjust the shoes) but no the drum didn't want to come. The rear wheel cylinder was completly seized up so after a lot of swearing and grubbing around on the floor I was left with a rear brake cylinder in the vice. It was virtually new. So time for some more cylinders.


Moral: use your morris minor, don't leave it in a damp garage.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately they don't seem to last as long as I would like even on a car that is used virtually every day. I recently had to replace the rear cylinders and one of the front cylinders on Fenchurch because they had seized. The other front cylinders will probably need doing soon too. They have been on the car two and a bit years. I think salty road-spray may be a large part of the problem.

Rupert said...

Hi Alex,
its a bit worrying that this happens on frequently used cars. I presume the brake fluid has absorbed (absorped?) lots of water so the system can rust from the inside out. I guess this is the arguemnt for using Silicome fluid.

I could do with a drier garage too!

Anonymous said...

I do have silicone fluid in Fenchurch, but the pistons and bores still corrode where the brake fluid is not in contact with them (ie. outside the rubber seal). A light smear of copper grease on the piston when you assemble it seems to help a bit.