Tom.H Posted January 5, 2009 Posted January 5, 2009 Braking Issue My Defender 90 recently failed it mot on uneven braking. I was somewhat confused when I received the failure sheet as it said the car was swerving to both the near side and offside. What I’ve done: Another thing my land rover failed on was that the near side disk brake was obsessively worn. As a result I’ve changed both front disk brakes and fitted new pads. After I finished this I took the car out for a spin and there was no improvement on the swerving. In general it did seem to swerve more to the near side but it also swerved to the off side as well (just not as often) As a result I went back to my garage and decided to re bleed all the brakes. Again I took it out for a spin and I there was not improvement on the swerving. When replacing the disks and pads I did find the front near side pistons were very stiff to push in (it required a crow bar to get them all the way in). I therefore decided that due to this and that it generally swerving to the near side that the calliper was not working properly. I therefore picked up a spare front near side calliper and replaced it. Again; took the car out and no particular improvement. After warming up the brakes a lot I did mange to get it to brake straight once (Front wheels look up before the rears) but even after this happened it kept on swerving to both sides. The land rover defender was made in 1989 and did used to have drums on the rear. The previous owner replaced the axel with a range rover one (meaning disks all round), I can’t believe this is an issue but then? I am running on GREENWAY ATACAMA tyres; I don’t know whether this could be an issue (do they have a reputation for poor braking) I just wondered if anyone could help me out with this issue. As you may be able to tell I am in a bit of a pickle Tom Quote
Cat_J Posted January 5, 2009 Posted January 5, 2009 I dunno if it will help but have you checked you wheel bearings are tight/not worn. Quote
dirkthe1 Posted January 5, 2009 Posted January 5, 2009 my bosses capri and cortina did this and we straight changed the calipers and fiddled a bit im sure someone can be more technical than that Quote
jcwcooper Posted January 6, 2009 Posted January 6, 2009 I would suggest that maybe you could do with rebuilding the brakes with new pistons and seals, You may get away with gently sanding the corrosion off the pistons if it isnt too bad. Before you do rebuild them though, check the wheel beanings are all ok, Tyre pressures are another thing. It sounds like sticking pistons maybe 1 front and 1 back brake. Dave. Quote
Ivan Posted January 7, 2009 Posted January 7, 2009 Also check your bushes. My 90 did the swerving bit and I found the rear trailing arm bushes were the culprit. Changed the bushes and it's fine now. I replaced all the bushes just to make sure. So don't forget the panhard rod and the front trailing arms. HTH Ivan Quote
V8 Freak Posted January 7, 2009 Posted January 7, 2009 Once you're happy the brakes are consistent I'd also do what Ivan suggests. Get under and check / replace the bushes under the truck. I had similar and it was a combination of quite a few bushes that were slightly worn and the front control arms (Hockey sticks) bushes totally gone on one side. Now all changed and brakes straight. Also noticed the truck was a lot better on uneven roads too ! Neil Quote
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