mk3 van - rear wheels locking under mild breaking?

[Twelfty]

basicly i'll be driving along not particularly fast or aggressively apply the brakes to slow down and every so often the rear wheels will just lock up entirely, now apart from it eventually ****ing up my tyres, it's also extremely embarrassing making people often stop in the middle on the street to see a "young driver" so to speak and give that "ugh what a pikey look" and it ****es me off

is there a way i can stop this? but without messing up the breaking power when i have the van weighted right up as it really helps to have that kick in

 

[djwilde69]

all i can think of is if the rear shoe's are really out! or the break pipe's for the frunt are going to the back as it shouldnt happen. id be looking at all the pipe's and shoes/pads

 

[Twelfty]

ill be upgrading the front discs and calipers soon as the front brakes are crap

i wonder if the shoes on the back are near the end of their life and are going metal to metal....... the handbrake cable seems to be adequately stiff and latches on well but has a fair bit of travel compared to my hatch mk3 which would also lead me to think the shoes have worn down

i need a dry day so i can check all this out

 

[djwilde69]

yup! i need to do my hand break soon, id deffo say check it

 

[Rusty]

Rear shoes worn I reckon, had the same on my Nova.

 

[Twelfty]

perfect thanks for the help

 

[sammy_lou]

Do vans have a brake bias adjuster on or not? Wondering if they'd have one to adjust the braking force with a load in the back?

 

[Mr Skint]

yes the vans have a balance adjuster, is the van lowered?

 

[corsa_evn]

bias valve remove it and just run some new brake lines if shoes are okay then it will be job done

 

[Twelfty]

yes the vans have a balance adjuster, is the van lowered?

no its not mate

where is the adjuster?

 

[sammy_lou]

no its not mate

where is the adjuster?

On my GSI it's joined onto the rear axle from the car body, looks like a little lever with a spring, the rear brake pipes go into and out of it

 

[Twelfty]

ok thanks sammy ill have a butchers later

 

[Mr Skint]

on yours its toward to drivers side of the axle. Before you remove it though, im sure it can be adjusted

 

[big e]

Id say rear brake compensater located between chassis and axle it is probably siezed up, had the exact same problem a few years back on a mk6 escort van and the compensater siezed was the culprit..

 

[Twelfty]

on yours its toward to drivers side of the axle. Before you remove it though, im sure it can be adjusted

yeah ill be adjusting it rather than ripping it off

 

[astranaut]

my load sensing valve got stuck on a mk5 escort van, back brakes locked, the first time it did it went up the arse of an MR2 lol. Changed it and it was fine.

 

[Brick Driver]

Sounds like it is the load sensing valve, had a similar thing on a MK2 astra van, worked better than pulling the handbrake on as long as you were expecting it.
I would have thought that if you just took it off you would get full braking effect to the rear wheels all the time so it would be just as bad. You could fit a manual one that could be adjusted inside the car but it would need new pipes making up and the MOT man might not be impressed.

 

[Twelfty]

im not too fussed about adjusting it on the fly i carry a heavy heavy load probably every 12 weeks fro one day from job to job so its only a matter of adjusting it 4 times a year just driving me insane screeching down the road when im only doing like 20 lol

tho it is a good idea for blokes on the move all the time

 

[Brick Driver]

It's a bit dodgy as well, doesn't take much to end up facing the wrong way.

I suggested the adjustable valve as there is a very small chance it could be cheaper then the proper one, but it isn't really worth the agro of fitting it.