Homemade X-Brake write-up (disc handbrake)

[bushy555]

My little write-up about what I did all day Saturday and Sunday.
Kinda sorta half explanatory.

Am due for rego very shortly. My drum brake has never really worked and got sick of it. And have to go to another dude to get pink slip who Im fairly certain will not pass it without the handbrake working. I really wanted an X-Brake from X-Engineering in the UK, however I didn't have enough dollars to go through with it. Anyway, started playing on Friday night and this is what I ended up with at 9pm last night. After packing up and walking back towards the house, looked up and here is a bloody comet in the sky!

Landy_Man is the X-Eng dude here on the forum, PM him for any info on X-Eng stuff.

Write up: http://www.angelfire.com/blog/bushy560/x-brake.html

[ISUZUROVER]

Looks good mate - so subie (old) MY disc and caliper?

[Reddo]

Goo info - I heard that older style Ford rear disc and cable operated caliper is an easy conversion to do too - not sure of the model though, maybe AU or earlier.

[up2nogood]

Any rear disc brake with a handbrake (like XF/EA Falcon) will also work OK.

Nice job. Reckon this is 39 on my to do list!

[ISUZUROVER]

Any rear disc brake with a handbrake (like XF/EA Falcon) will also work OK.

Nice job. Reckon this is 39 on my to do list!

Apparently Simon from X-eng went through quite a few calipers before he found one with enough power to hold the vehicle in all situations. That would suggest that ANY caliper may not necessarily work.

[up2nogood]

I meant to say this would work similarly.

I will also clarify that all car handbrake calipers are designed to do half the job of holding a 1.3 tonne car, as there are two of them.

So one caliper off a Ford or Subi holding an entire 2000-2500kg car could be over it's holding ability.

Well, let's just say you'd want to test it very well before leaving it parked on a steep, busy street with nothing in front of it..........

It would also be quite difficult to have the home made job engineered, so if said modification did result in the car rolling down a street and killing/injuring/ someone or damaging property yiou would have no insurance and you would be in very deep poo.

Hope that clears things up.


On another note, is the X-Eng one engineered for use in Aus? Do they come with an engineers certification when you buy them?
Or do you need to have them individually engineered for compliance?

[ISUZUROVER]

You are forgetting that one is at the wheel and one is on the propshaft. The required clamping forces are different.

[up2nogood]

Which is why the car one may do the job.

Happy days!

[Michele]

if said modification did result in the car rolling down a street and killing/injuring/ someone or damaging property yiou would have no insurance and you would be in very deep poo.

Damn,now you makes me think...

[Reddo]

yeah but how would rely totally on the HB - you'd put it in gear too, or park......

[Michele]

Yup,true,
but rumours you can hear about insurance companies inspectors and lawyers are scary...

[bushy555]

> Looks good mate - so subie (old) MY disc and caliper?

Yep. From a 'MY' model Wagon/Sedan (1981 to 1984) and Brumby (1980 to 1994), commonly referred to as "EA81" and "second generation" Subaru's.
I only used this since this is what I had. And all up it has cost me a grand total of zero dollars, apart from about 10 to 15 welding rods, a bit of electricity and time in the shed.

As for engineering - those comments are quite true.
Though this has gotta be better than a non working drum brake.
Someone on somelist sometime said that the X-Eng was supposed to be able to hold a vehicle on a 30 degree slope with 4 tonnes of trailor hitched. I dunno how true this was... Sounds good but. Wonder how good were the vehicles tyres?

[cpmurray]

Personally, I don't know what is wrong with the drum hand brake. The first proper trip I took my 90 on (2.5 petrol four with the standard twin barrel webber carby) my hand brake would hold the vehicle on a hill (Spud spur track up Walhalla way) that it would stall on in low second through lack of power, and I hit the bottom of that hill with as many revs as I could! And no it wasn't due to the carbie not liking the angle, as I would secure the car with the hand brake, and the engine would fire on the first touch of the key. With out doubt the steepest hill I have climbed. I will have to go back there now I have an extra litre and four more cylinders.

Also, I seem to remember that the factory quoted that the hand brake would hold the vehicle on a 45 degree slope.

Regards
Craig Murray

[Reddo]

the problem is the drum fills up with crap and the sliders that operate the shoes gum up quite quickly. Take it off, clean and lubricate and it will work very well. But after one or two trips, you have to do it all over again, or progressively loose efficiency. Disc wont gum up like that, not will any oil seepage from the TC rear seal affect tham like it doe the drum unit.

[g60boy]

if your only using the hand brake mech on the caliper does that mean you can hook up a hydro hand brake aswell for more strength on masive hills, top idea by the way . cheers scott

[ISUZUROVER]

the problem is the drum fills up with crap and the sliders that operate the shoes gum up quite quickly. Take it off, clean and lubricate and it will work very well. But after one or two trips, you have to do it all over again, or progressively loose efficiency. Disc wont gum up like that, not will any oil seepage from the TC rear seal affect tham like it doe the drum unit.

Personally, the handbrake on my 110 has always been perfect, and the (smaller) one on the IIA has worked well except for when thr T-case was leaking oil into it.

The added advantage of a drum is that a lot less clamping force is required to hold the same load, and they slide over rocks easily.

But I like the idea of the disc handbrake.

[460cixy]

the hand brake on my 72 rangie has never worked since i have owned it about 11 years must now fix it for rego last time i had the tcase apart i checked and adjusted it with no joy i think all the linckages are worn and the lever reaches the end of its travel before pulling it on if i pull it past the ratchet it holds

[DL]

Hi 460,

I remember reading about this prob and solution either on this forum or the Aus RR Forum. There is one part inside the drum that pivots or gets leverage, metal to metal, which wears resulting in less leverage. Solution was to build up worn area with weld and grind smooth. Apparently all good.

Sounds right to me because I used handbrake drum and pads from a '74 that was next to useless with an '83 TC (less worn parts inside the drum) and it's fine. Almost like a 'real' car. Not used to one that actually holds on steep hills!

DL

[460cixy]

well i will let you all know when i pull it down to fix it for rego

[red90]

A stock hand brake in proper condition should be very strong and hold anything. The reason for switching to a disc is that mud wears the drum brakes very quickly. If you are not in mud very often, there is no point.