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[stevo291]

I posted up about my brakes not working on my little F-RST barn find - after a few posts it concluded with me finding all 4 brake hoses had perished! (not surprizing with how long its been sitting)

Anyhow after stripping all the brake cylinders down, buying new hoses and refitting everything back up - Im now at the Bleeding stage. All seems ok but the offside Rear drum brake just doesnt seem to have the same pressure as all the other brakes? How is this possible?
I even went out and bought an Eezibleeder (awsome bit of kit!) and every brake bleeds out lovely golden freash fluid with no bubbles what..so..ever!

So why does one rear drum not sqeeze as tight as the others?

[stevo291]

Ok been in the garage for another hour! .... Iv gone over everything I can think of.... the only thing left that could be possible is that there must be an air lock in the drum cylinder itself. The only reason I think that is because Iv stripped them apart? and the front calipers have a bleed valve on the oppersite side of the cylinder wall - where as the rear drum cylinders have the bleed valve virtually inline before the fluid fills the chamber. This would explain why it bleeds our with no bubbles.

Am I supposed to compress the drum cylnders before filling and bleeding?

[jayrs]

are you getting any fluid at all from that drum?

[stevo291]

Yes - thats whats confusing me the most! all 4 brakes bleed perfectly - There must be an airlock within the cylinder itself that the bleed cant clear out.

What if I take the drum cover off again and clamp down/compress the cylinder all the way in and then bleed it out .... or is that is how your are surposed to bleed drum cylinders when they have been stripped down??

[MgsDetail]

Im not being silly but have you got the car jacked up on the drivers rear? My mate had the same problem as the fluid level was to low where he had it jacked up.

[stevo291]

The car is sitting level on axle stands but positioned at the rear so its sitting on the axle beam.. therefore as though the cars weight is on the wheels and the laiden valves are open.

[jayrs]

if your getting fluid ok, but the brake isnt working, then maybe the brake cyclinder it self is jammed up and wont move, or maybe the shoe adjusted at faulty and not allowing the brake shoes to adjust

[stevo291]

All fixed!
Just spent the last hour stripping the brake back down and checking everything .... rebuilt it back up ... bleed it out again ... now it works!!!!!!
Honestly have no idea why, must have a been a stubborn air lock that somehow free'd itself - strange one.

[jayrs]

ah well, it works, good enough

[DanFraser]

Yeah I've had this before and now when I bleed the brakes I always shake and bang the brake I'm bleeding just before and at the start of bleeding. I always hurt my hands though!