Jacked up the car and placed on axle stands.

 

Removed the rear cubby holder to reveal this;

 

 

I marked the current position of the yolk (?) with Tippex.

 

The drums were covered in flaky rust, so I pressed on removing as much as possible with a wire brush.

 

With the handbrake off, the near-side wheel was very free and the off-side would hardly move. Removing the drum securing screws proved no problem with a Torx bit in a 3/8 ratchet.

 

First removed the fully released near side wheel by locating the adjusting wedge through the wheel bolt hole and pushing upwards with a screwdriver. Brushed out the dust with a container situated under the drum and cleaned off as much of the remaining deposits with brake  cleaner. When I did eventually manage to remove the other side, I realised there was no spring attached to the wedge on this side. Here's a picture, but it's too dark on the inside so you can't see the lack of a spring. Wondering now how important the spring is and whether I have a suitable/similar one taken off another car? 

 

 

After a few solid taps on the drum, I managed to remove the off-side and followed the same cleaning sequence as for the near-side resulting in this

 

 

With a screwdriver pushed to the right against the handbrake adjuster on the left, I noticed that the lever didn't return to it's starting position (at least it did move). Faulty handbrake cable spring? The handbrake adjuster on the near-side worked ok (returned to starting position).

 

Put both drums back and began adjusting the handbrake cable. On one click of the handbrake, the off-side began to have slight effect but the near side was nowhere near however much I adjusted the cable. I'd noticed a bit of a ridge on both drums but nothing I thought was excessive enough to cause the imbalance. Nevertheless, I proceeded to remove the off-side drum and got to work on that ridge, first with 80 grade emery cloth. I was doing this at my mum's house (garage, drive (I have none), and although I'd brought grinding attachments with, I'd forgotten to take my drill. I did have a dremel type tool with me though, so got to work with a tiny grinding bit in it. Removed a fair bit of the ridge, replaced the drum and tried adjusting the handbrake cable again. Was amazed to find that removing that ridge worked and I was eventually able to adjust the handbrake so that it now holds on 4 clicks. It really is trial and error turning that adjuster nut until both sides are holding, getting in the car, adjusting the nut maybe 4 1/4 turns at a time, getting out of the car, putting gloves on to turn the drums, gloves off, releasing the handbrake, adjusting again and so on until both sides are holding; must've been 20 times I did this to get to this;

 

Note the original white mark and a startling amount of adjustment required (or maybe it's not for those that know?)

 

 

So two things to worry about, the missing spring on the near-side and the non-returning handbrake lever on the off-side. Also, whether I should have removed a similar ridge on the near-side, otherwise the shoes are not pushing evenly against the inside of the drum when the footbrake is applied and will be less efficient.

Edited 21 August, 20241 yr by phs12
Spelling

You have a few issues here, the shoes need to come off and the handbrake lever needs freeing up and greasing the lever should move back a forth with a free movement,you are also missing the self adjusting wedges that fit to these brakes that fits on the leading shoe (front shoe) on each side  just below the end of the strut and has a spring attacted to the bottom of the shoe you might have a decent handbrake now but your footbrake will be poor as the shoes are not adjusting up every time you apply te foot brake that was why it took so many goes at getting it right you were adjusting the handbrake shoe to try and get a decent footbrake adjustment, some one has worked on this car and left the adjusters off thats why it's not working correctly, if you searh on mintex brake book and download the catalouge it shows all the parts for te front and rear brakes for all cars you just neeed to select your model from the lists 

 

As above, the off-straight yoke is a giveaway that the lever pivot has seized.

Rivet that is meant to allow rotation between shoe plate and handbrake lever shown in the red circle. Pink arrows show the free movement that should happen. Green arrow shows spring attachment point to the adjuster wedges.

 

Edited 22 August, 20241 yr by Breezy_Pete

As above spot on could not find a picture to explain but this is a great example well done

 

Thanks @Murdockman and Pete. 

 

I don't think the self adjusters are missing, just the near side is missing its spring.

Quick before (top) and after (bottom) photo update on the handbrake yoke (handbrake off in both pics). Not sure how to get the photos side by side on here. Not perfect but much better than where it started.

 

21/08/24

 

 

 

 

 

Just back from a 1,000 mile trip to Scotland. Felt that the handbrake that I only adjusted back in August was already not gripping as well as it should and still getting that clicking when pulling away after a cold start.

 

So, yesterday I had a look and found this (unrelated to the handbrake problem);

 

 

The dreaded leaking wheel cylinder (the brake fluid not showing up too well on this pic where I'm holding the rubber open);

 

 

If you look at the 2nd pic on my original post and compare it to the near side, it's obvious now that it was already leaking at that point, I just didn't recognise it.

 

Any recommended brands of cylinders/shoes/fitting kit? Anyone know OEM manufacturer? Is it the cylinder with one or two mounting holes?

 

I already removed the hub nut cover, to check and it's 30mm, which I have a socket for.

 

Edit: Mileage is 80k btw.

 

Also, best way to clean off the brake fluid from the drum? I tried brake cleaner (one I got from  Lidl) and it didn't seem very effective.

Edited 8 November, 20241 yr by phs12

Why do you want to disturb the hub? Virtually any solvent will clean up the drums, even soap and water if you have nothing else.

 

https://youtu.be/Qt_OsOAclco?si=DcrOp0Rg9vGpJ5Nn

Edited 8 November, 20241 yr by Jocko

Boiling water from a kettle also cleans up brake dust well, virtually free and less chance of breathing it in 👍

On 08/11/2024 at 15:22, Jocko said:

Why do you want to disturb the hub? Virtually any solvent will clean up the drums, even soap and water if you have nothing else.

 

https://youtu.be/Qt_OsOAclco?si=DcrOp0Rg9vGpJ5Nn

Just because several threads on here suggest it makes the job easier. You obviously disagree.

14 minutes ago, phs12 said:

Just because several threads on here suggest it makes the job easier. You obviously disagree.

I come from the era of drum brakes, front and rear. I never had an issue, though I must admit I have never tackled VAG brakes. I just feel why disturb the hub and bearings when you don't have to? In my day you had drive shafts to contend with as well.