Parking Brake

[Odin 8]

Yeah, don't bet your life on that hand brake... ..Thats got to be the Funniest, Honest, Most direct quote ever posted Mike, Made me Laugh, ... Am i guessing its a 100 series Odin's bought ?....

Yeah, don't bet your life on that hand brake...

What is the issue with the parking brake? Nothing can be as bad as an EPB. I sit in the Amazon just to pull the parking brake lever on, then release it again. So satisfying. Its a bit like one of the Clint Eastwood / Good Bad & Ugly movies when the Mexican chap is rotating the barrel on the Colt 45 to Ennio Maraconni music in the back ground. (how ever you spell it)?
In fact I think that I will wire it so that the CD plays a Fist Full of Dollars everytime that I pull the park brake lever on. The Disco EPB could play a Village People number, or 'dance around your hand bag', for what good it was.

 

[Higgy]

80 series Land cruisers are not known for their Brilliant Handbrakes, A lot of us have made personal tweaks and adjustments to improve them (lengthening the Dogbones etc)..........But it looks like you bought the 100 series so all should be fine

 

[Howmanygoes]

The 100 series handbrake is still pretty rubbish.

 

[BobMurphy]

No matter what I do to the handbrake . . . Stick the '100' in Drive on tickover and it moves .

Bob.

 

[Towpack]

I fitted new Toyota rear discs/drums, shoes and a new fitting kit with springs etc to the 80 and the handbrake is the best it's ever been since I've owned it but I wouldn't call it first class. I also don't get why it goes out of adjustment. The transmission brake on the old S1 Disco felt more positive at the lever and held the vehicle easily but the slop in the transmission meant you could rock it too and fro.

 

[SteveJB]

Chris has improved dog bones for sale give him a message

 

[uHu]

What is the issue with the parking brake? Nothing can be as bad as an EPB. I sit in the Amazon just to pull the parking brake lever on, then release it again.

The 100 series' parking brake is OK for parking, if maintained annually. The most important issue is to keep the bellcrank lubricated, otherwise the friction in the linkage will go up until unusable. So, an annual clean, lube, adjust, will keep it going. The adjustment procedure is slightly different from other cars, so following the steps in the FSM religiously is one secret to a good hand brake.

Another issue is that the brake booster will fail, eventually, leaving you with about 2% braking force, on the front wheels only. Zero on the rears. That's when you need a good, working hand brake. Keeping a keen eye, and ear, on the brake booster might save you from that scary experience. When the alarm goes off for too low brake booster accumulator pressure, you still have pressure for one or two full stops, but that's it. Also a broken brake line will give you a similar experience, with next to no brakes, depending on where it is leaking.

I have managed to lock the rear wheels with the hand brake, when newly serviced, with an empty car on a paved, but dusty, road.
I have also tried the longer dog bone, but it just changes the geometry a bit, so that the adjustment is different, but it's not better in any way. you will also have to bed in the shoes for a completely different "angle of attack", wasting a lot of lining. I bought a kit from OZ, with "the best brake shoes ever", stronger springs and a longer dog bone. The brake shoes where rubbish - no grip. The OEM shoes seems to be the best available, according to what I've heard and read. The longer dog bones also made the top end of the shoes want to jump out from the pivot bolt, necessitating a larger washer/plate holding them in.

 

[Odin 8]

Thank you for the replies, all appreciated. For the moment, the park brake feels good, so whilst on with other issues, I have had the drums off, removed the dust and checked everything is working correctly. Its assembled, lubed & adjusted, so will be good for now. There's a few thousand miles left in the shoes, but the discs are getting thin. So when the time is due, it can can have a full rear brake overhaul.

I have noticed that there is only one hydraulic brake pipe to the rear axle, I would have thought that it would have had a dual system to the rear, one pipe to each corner. With removing all the AHC gubbings, plumbing and wires, there is now a lot of clean room down there so I am contemplating running two pipes and hoses, only contemplating?

Pictures of the NSR with the fuel tank removed. All the steel fuel pipes will be replaced with clear braded hose. I will replace that brake pipe with a better fit, this one was obviously done with the fuel tank in place.

 

[uHu]

It looks like your 4-wheeled friend has found a good home. It will be interesting to see more pictures of your repairs and improvements, especially how you do the fuel hoses.

Afaik, only the newer 100s with anti skid/spin had two pipes, two circuits, for the rear brakes. The master and ECU are also different, with separate control for the two rears. I suppose it is not easy to convert to the newer, 4 circuit master, and that you would have to change several ECUs. As it is, you and me have only one outlet for the rears on the master (atrac came later on the diesel), so I can't see the benefit of splitting that outlet into 2 pipes running to the rears.

 

[Odin 8]

Well, I have stripped and cleaned up the parking brake. It adjusted up nicely so gave it a test. Park brake on and in gear, it would not set off so I'm happy with that after the 'Disco III Screaming Banshees' as it is commonly known in that fraternity. How nice to have a proper hand-brake that ratchets on and works with confidence. Play the Ennio Marraconi.

The other interesting thing is after removing all the AHC Metal-Work, (bye-gum there was some weight in and among all that stuff). All the cable trunking along the NS chassis is for the AHC. From under the NSR passenger floor there is the one cable for the fuel sender unit. So I've removed the AHC cable as pictured from the central control unit to the NSR shock absorber top. There are two multi-plugs there and this is where the ABS from the NSR wheel feeds in. That cable is like a net holding all the road crudd on top of the chassis. Glad to remove all that stuff. Going to work along OS chassis next and see what can be removed as 'surplus'?

 

[Juddian]

I think with the small shoes, as fitted to all drum inside disc park brake designs, that fine adjustment makes all the difference.

Every now and again i'll pull the park brake lever on gently whilst driving along to help clean off any accumulated crud.
Always clean the shoe friction material with emery cloth whenever i remove the drum, and then after refitting the drums adjust things up, then take it for a spin operating the handbrake a few times to rebed the shoes in, then re-adjust.
The difference doing it like this makes is well worth the time and trouble.

EPB is one of several of my lines in the sand i'm not having, finding their way onto lorries now, an answer to a question no one asked, its the one and only reason there isn't an Avensis estate sitting on our drive, instead is a Forester with the good old drum inside disc park brake.
My other not on your nelly is the bloody awful automated manual gearboxes from hell, whether one or two clutches they all give trouble in the end..

 

[Dave_S]

Best parking brake ever was the X-eng transmission brake - essentially a disc brake on the back of the box, with a JCB calliper. Was designed for a Landy but always wondered if you could retrofit to any 4x4 with a bit of wriggle room in the transmission...

 

[wedgetail]

Best parking brake ever was the X-eng transmission brake - essentially a disc brake on the back of the box, with a JCB calliper. Was designed for a Landy but always wondered if you could retrofit to any 4x4 with a bit of wriggle room in the transmission...

Hoppa knockas make one for cruisers, I’m not convinced it’s necessary though.

I’ve always had very good results with extended dog bones. I never buy them, I always extended the originals 2.5mm (weld then file back). This has improved every vehicle I’ve fitted them to (roughly 30+ 70 series and both my 105s) by a useful if not massive amount. I’ve never had to bed pads in - just dog bone and adjust every 5k km service and the handbrake remains perfectly respectable during this time. Obviously the cable and bell crank assembly needs to be free to move properly at all times

 

[Juddian]

Best parking brake ever was the X-eng transmission brake - essentially a disc brake on the back of the box, with a JCB calliper. Was designed for a Landy but always wondered if you could retrofit to any 4x4 with a bit of wriggle room in the transmission...

Had similar on my first artic, mickey mouse Foden, parking brake was a drum and shoes on the rear of the diff which looked a bit odd for people following if you had no trailer on, you wouldn't dare use it as an emergency brake and given there was no way of locking the diff it was pretty useless as a park brake too.
The motor also had the dead man, a seconday brake that operated on the tractor steer axle and trailer brakes only, albeit this was before the days of spring brakes so although you could use the dead man as an auxilliary park brake (also it was the brake of choice for hill starts etc) once the air pressure dropped the dead man brakes would release...hence parking on anything than a flat road required some thinking about or you could return from the pub or digs and the lorry might not be where you left it.
Trailer park brakes were cable operated in those days, half the time they were either seized or some fool had wound the cable over the spool which would invariable prove impossible to untangle so angle grinder job, the joys of old school.
Also like Land Rovers when you applied the diff drum park brake the vehicle would rock a few times till it settled.

 

[Tractionman]

Jud, those cable trailer parking brakes with the ratchet system worked well enough, until whoever used it last overdid it, were they a bastard to release with hands and feet coming into play hanging underneath the trailer.
Re. the deadman. Returning to the rig after the pub, it might have been the case of where you THOUGHT you'd left it !

 

[Odin 8]

Best parking brake ever was the X-eng transmission brake - essentially a disc brake on the back of the box, with a JCB calliper. Was designed for a Landy but always wondered if you could retrofit to any 4x4 with a bit of wriggle room in the transmission...

Bedford M-Types, or 4 Toners in army talk used the disc & caliper park brake on the propshaft mounted on the gearbox rear. They were, and still are a good parking brake.

 

[Dave_S]

Aye, I had the X-eng version on my comp Defender - would hold it pretty much anywhere, hold the car when winching others, etc - and didn't need any adjustment in 4 or 5 years of use - one of those fit-and-forget kind of things (which are the best sort of mods, IMHO).