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Which brake shoes?
smart51 - 19/12/07 at 03:07 PM

I have a choice of 1.5" wide or 1.25" wide brake shoes for my trike project, which has mini rear drums on mini front drum hubs. Either shoes will fit.

Will the wider shoes give me more braking effect for a given pedal force or will the force be spread out, so not giving any more effect?

What brand / compound of shoes are going to give me the most stopping power?

Coose - 19/12/07 at 03:11 PM

Go for the widest shoes. You'll get more friction area and a wider shoe leading edge.

I can't really suggest a make of shoe, but if you find out a good make let me know as I'll need some for the restoration of my wife's Mk1 Mini!

britishtrident - 20/12/07 at 02:33 PM

Either shoe won't fit --- the shoes have to match the brake back plate.

If you are fitting mini rear brakes to a front axle don't expect much stopping power

smart51 - 20/12/07 at 03:43 PM

quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Either shoe won't fit --- the shoes have to match the brake back plate.

If you are fitting mini rear brakes to a front axle don't expect much stopping power


Quite interesting Mr. Trident. I've just been to check the mini front brakes that came with the hubs I'm using. They are fitted with 1.25" brake shoes but they sit at a slight angle. The shoe linings have worn at an angle to match, being much thinner on one side than the other. Lucky then that I haven't bought new shoes and drums yet.


Are mini rear drums really that bad? My trike is now looking a bit heavier than I thought at 275kg. Are mini drums really not up to it?

Bob C - 20/12/07 at 04:09 PM

s'not the drums, its the backplates - back ones have 1 leading & one trailing shoe so that the handbrake works in both directions. Front ones have 2 leading shoes so only work well forwards (you get a self- servo effect with a leading shoe).
My brother in law had a beetle based trike & it had awful brakes......
Bob

smart51 - 20/12/07 at 04:34 PM

Ok, so mini rear brakes with their single leading and single trailing shoes and small wheel cylinders don't brake too well, even with my vehicle's weight at 40% of the old mini.

What can I do to improve the braking?

Peteff - 20/12/07 at 04:38 PM

The only difference is the rear drums have a built in spacer isn't it ? The front drum hubs are twin leading so there should be no problems. If you're not too fussy you can fit the 10" wheels to the later disk brakes with a spacer and a bit of careful angle grinding of the calliper, not that I would condone such barbaric practise but I have seen it done.

smart51 - 21/12/07 at 10:46 AM

Here's another option. I think I can fit a handbrake lever to the front backplate. It would have the twin leading shoes as well as the 15/16" cylinders over the rear's 3/4". More stopping power is good.

Being twin leading shoe, will the handbrake be terrible backwards?

Bob C - 21/12/07 at 12:30 PM

on the mini backplate the handbrake mech has a lever between both shoes so as far as the handbrake is concerned it WILL have one leading, one trailing.
I'd have thought you'd have to get your hands dirty to get the handbrake and twin leading shoes onto the same backplate....
Using the back brakes will work - you'll juts have to work harder on the pedal without the servo effect!
Bob

britishtrident - 22/12/07 at 07:30 PM

Mini rear wheel cylinders come in various bores the Mk2 and Clubman up to 1974 or so with the single hydraulic circuit and the pressure shut off regulator valve were the bigest bore about 3/4" istr.

However still don't expect much stopping power, but too much pressure on the drums and they start to distort --- Minifin drums are stiffer.