Trying to get the E brakes working on my '82 I am puzzled that the half shafts have about 1/4" movement in and out thus causing the discs to rub the pads. Is this movement normal? The E brakes have just failed the test at 7% efficiency.

 

What you call half shafts, we call axles, so if you email or talk to someone in the US about this issue, that will help avoid confusion.

The axles are held in by a C-clip. They, the sides of the grooves in the axles, or the pinion shaft may be severely worn. Normal end play is about 1/32 of an inch. IIRC, Tom's Differentials is one place to get thicker C-clips.

As for the braking efficiency. It may be from the caliper piston being sticky, or from not using the E brake on a regular basis. That is required to maintain pad adjustment. There is also a (no longer available) recall kit for those brakes.

RBob.

 

If the wear is excessive on the axles, would this affect the hand braking?

I put in new cables throughout but one side had to be shortened by crimping on spacers. Incidentally, I made a great tool for adjusting the threaded cable with a 20" long rod welded to a 1/2" tube spanner.

If I have to fit new C clips, how much of a job is it? (I can do most stuff)

 

I'm not sure, but I don't think that it will. It may be that the rear brakes don't even work when using the brake pedal. So the pads aren't bedded in.

If the transmission is an auto, raise the rear so the tires are off the ground. Start the engine and put the shifter into D. See if applying the brake pedal will stop the rear tires from rotating.

It is straight forward, no special tools are required. The only item that can cause problems is if the pinion shaft retaining bolt has broken. It can be tricky extracting the piece that remains in the carrier.

RBob.

 

The brakes are fine. It is just the e brake. Judging by the gauge of the springs, I have an original un-recalled calliper. Should I continue, or get new parts? Are any available or should I just replace with later units?
Thanks for your help. Keep the ideas coming. The trouble with this country is that they expect the e brake to work even on an automatic.
I think that the trouble might stem from the axle play which pushes the piston away from the spindle which puts it out of range of the quick threads. I will get a dial gauge on the axle and take it from there.

 

I just cleaned the piston and reassembled but I cannot bleed the damn thing. For some reason the oil is not coming through. The pedal is hard though. What could be wrong now as I am getting desperate.
I suppose it could be the flexible hose as I did clamp it to stop the oil. The car had been standing ten years so the hose is rather old.

 

Could easily be the case.

The following link provides pics and info for removing the bolt RBob makes mention of:

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tran...ing-axles.html

JamesC

 

I measured the end play and it was just .020"
I am hoping that most the trouble is down to an old hose as the brakes were binding and clamping just made it worse.

 

The hose was ok. The brakes are fine now, but the E brake is useless. I used new cables as well. The self adjusters don't work either side and I can't get the left to work at all.
The cables (Bruin)have a plastic coating which is already getting torn off.
Should I look for a better set of callipers?
The levers move nearly two thirds before the pads stop the disc.