Front brakes locking up

[JohnBM]

I’m not sure if I’ve posted this before , (old age ) but has anyone , with an FE  had reoccurring problems with the front brakes locking up when the car has NOT been used for several days and in particular , in cold , damp , weather conditions . I have had to go up & down my drive touching the brake pedal very gently for 5/ 10 mins before it rights itself . It’s been to so called experts several times to no availe. I’ve just picked it up from a repair place with 30 years exp  who assure me they have sorted it  . Was just interested to know if it was an inherent problem with the car , or an isolated thing with mine . Cheers🍺🐌

[JohnBM]

I might add the car is all original ( brakes & what ever )

[Gary C]

I’m not sure if I’ve posted this before , (old age ) but has anyone , with an FE  had reoccurring problems with the front brakes locking up when the car has NOT been used for several days and in particular , in cold , damp , weather conditions . I have had to go up & down my drive touching the brake pedal very gently for 5/ 10 mins before it rights itself . It’s been to so called experts several times to no availe. I’ve just picked it up from a repair place with 30 years exp  who assure me they have sorted it  . Was just interested to know if it was an inherent problem with the car , or an isolated thing with mine . Cheers🍺🐌

My fc does the same with lack of use , you need to drive it more. The shop would have probably replaced brake fluid and freed up wheel cylinders.
Something that can be done at home easily.

[fastjbav6]

Hi John,
I've had many years of experience on the Huck braking system.
Firstly check the brakes have not been adjusted slightly on the 'tight side' as I have experienced.
I've always used a smear of never seize grease on the pivot points of the brake shoe and where the side of brake shoe contacts the backing plate.
Careful you don't get any lubricant on the linings of the brake shoes.
Providing the wheel cylinders are not sticking or the metal wheel cylinder dust caps are not full of gunk, I would do the following;

1. I normally adjust the brake shoes evenly on each side of the wheel cylinder with the brake drum off then slip the brake drum on making sure it still can be freely rotated by hand.
2. I then fit wheel and tension wheel nuts correctly with wheel brace so not to distort mounting face.
3. If you over tension wheel nuts the brake drum will distort causing wheel to lock.
4. I adjust one brake shoe until it locks the brake drum then back it off until you hear the brake shoe touching the brake drum as you rotate wheel.
5. Repeat this on the other brake shoe.
6. I would also pump the brake pedal to 'centralise' the brake shoes and repeat steps 4 & 5 again to make sure there is just enough brake shoe drag to freely rotate wheel.
7. I then repeat this on each wheel.
 May I also note that the brake shoe return springs have not lost their tension.
 Hope this helps.


Kind Regards
Sebastiano Rafala
Mob: 0419 813 086
President
FE-FC Holden Car Club of WA
Mem # 8
 

[JohnBM]

Thanks people , & Seb , yeah well , the bloke seems to know his stuff , & rattled off much the same as you mentioned Seb , I’ll wing it  & see how it goes . Will not use the car for 2/3 days & it looks like it’s raining Thursday . The car has a mind of its own I’m sure 🍺🐌

[Harv]

The "locking up when cold" issue was well known to GMH engineers, and referred to as "morning sickness". Rob did an excellent write-up over here on how to rectify with lining chamfering:

http://www.fbekholden.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=22985&p=233199&hilit=morning+sickness#p233199

I've copied the guts of Robs explanation below:
The technical name for this problem is "Holden Morning Sickness". It affects approximately one million early Holdens.

It's largely humidity-related, and is made much worse by the presence of brake lining dust. The linings absorb humidity, and the coefficient of friction increases. The primary (i.e.leading) shoes have articulating links, which gives them "self-servo" action - the braking force on the shoe acts to apply the brake harder. It's a positive feedback thing, and like all positive feedback things it can go out of control: the affected brake locks under light application, and may not release until you reverse the car.

If you are keen, take your front drums off. Sandpaper the linings until they're de-glazed. Brush all the dust out of your brakes and put the drum back on. This will give you a few days' respite. The best preventative though is to drive your car every day.

Out-of-round drums are much more likely to provoke grabbing, as are weak brake shoe retracting springs. Sometimes chamfering the lining at the top of the primary shoe, next to the wheel cylinder, can help (but you need to make a shallow chamfer about 1/2" long the full width of the lining).

But the only practical approach is to learn to live with the problem. When I drive my cars, I don't use the brakes until I get the car out onto the street going downhill. When I've got up to about 20-30 mph, I apply the brakes - very gently at first, and then more firmly as the pedal effort normalises, until the brakes begin to warm up. After the first application, everything's fine. As long as I'm going faster than 20 mph, the brakes don't grab badly, and certainly don't lock up. Walking or running speed is suicidal.

In dry weather, the problem doesn't show up. But now that it's getting to the cool-and-damp season in Sydney, my cars have morning sickness.

(with thanks to Rob - I learnt some great stuff in that post).

Cheers,
Harv

[ardiesse]

John,

If it's any comfort to you, my black car suffered from "Morning Sickness" most days I was over in Perth.  And then once we got to Kalgoorlie, it rained and didn't let up until the Murray River.  It only takes about half an hour of driving through steady rain to make the brakes go on holidays completely.  You can't win.

Rob

[my8thholden]

Gents ..Thanks for the tips here on brakes ..I have done all the usual things to old brakes on my resto that have not been touched for years ,and put it all back together ,I most likely will strike some initial problems till they function correctly ,I note from what you have outlined  that its not just a one off lot of adjustments ,its an on going methodical approach to keep it that way..these tips may well be the answer and save time to what I may ponder over when it happens ..Vern .