Braking troubles

[60sixty]

hi, so I have a problem with my cruisers brakes, it's a 1985 HJ60 2H motor,
Got it off a friend its been sitting for a few years. It's brakes are nothing short of terrible, pulled them apart, plenty of life let on all pads. Plent the system no air? When I adjust the rear drums the peddle either goes soft (if I loosen the rears off a bit) or hard if I tighten it a bit. Have tested the booster, works fine.
Any ideas?

 

[kevlux]

Sure your front calipers aren't seized?
Just to be clear, when you say you pulled them apart, did you take the calipers off and try and push the piston back into the caliper fully?


Can always jack up the front, remove the wheels, get someone to press the brake pedal while you're trying to turn the disc/hub with a breaker bar between the studs (be gentle and mind the studs, even run the wheel nuts back on to protect the studs threads).
Should be locking up easily, but more importantly should be freeing up relatively easily too..

Do the same for the rear.

 

[60sixty]

Okay I'll check that tomorrow, I've checked the drums, seems to be limited movement of the shoes (new Pistons?) the brakes work the car just has poor stopping power, but it's my first 60 so not sure if I'm being biased comparing to a modern car?

 

[Output Shaft]

If the brake actuation works well enough, as in when you press on the brakes and you get a firm pedal, it is very possible that all the friction surfaces (rotors, shoes, pads and drums) have been contaminated by rust and whatnot over the years the cruiser was sitting idle.

I know that when I had my cruiser "parked" on a beach near ocean waves and onshore winds for 6 months, when I finally moved it, it would hardly stop. The brakes couldn't even hold it on a steep hill.

Before that 6 month hiatus, the brakes worked pretty good.

Driving it with lots of hard test stops helped it a little bit, but the brakes never returned to "good" or safe function. The only fix was to replace all the brakes. Everything front and rear.
Stopped good after that.

I think (at least in my case) that once the drums and rotors get contaminated, that crap embeds into the pores of the steel and pads/shoes, and nothing can get rid of it in a timely manner. Too dangerous to drive like that for long.

 

[Freewheel]

+1 on Kevlux's suggestion about the calipers. The Landcruiser is a big heavy truck with marginal braking ability compared to a modern vehicle, but the brakes in proper shape will stop it without too much drama.

the calipers have 2 pistons on each side- they all have to be free to move. When I first got my truck, I thought it stopped all right but not great, but didn't think too much about it 'cause everyone said 60 series brakes were kind of crap. When I finally checked on the calipers, over half the pistons were seized. Putting new calipers on was a revelation!

 

[60sixty]

Okay so I had a quick look at the rear drums, and only one side of a piston was working, so only one shoe was engaging.
Thanks for the suggestions, front caliber seizing, could that be fixed with a caliber re build kit? Rather then replacing e whole caliber?

I had a look at the shoes, pad drums and discs, all seem in reasonable shape ( plenty of tred left, not scores or grooves on the dust and drums)