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MG MGA - Brake Shoe Action

When the brake pedal is depressed my rear brake cylinders are only moving the top shoe. The bottom shoe does not move at all. Obviously, they both need to move against the drum to work properly right? Any ideas?
Jeff Bennett

Jeff - Are you observing the brake shoe action with the drum removed? If so, all you will see is the one shoe move. When the drum is in place one shoe will move against the drum and then the wheel cylinder will be pushed against the other shoe until it contact the drum and both shoes are bearing against the drum equally (except for the servo action of the leading shoe, which will "pull" it into a tighter contact than the trailing shoe). Cheers - Dave
David DuBois

Dave - that's correct, I have the drum off. Thanks for the explanation.
Jeff Bennett

Dave's explanation is accurate but assumes that the slider is free to slide as brakes are applied. It is possible to have the slide seized and not apply or release the other shoe. The wheel cyl is mounted in a manner that allows it to slide. It is held on by a clip and not bolted solidly as the fronts are.
R J Brown

This thread was discussed on 15/02/2008

MG MGA index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.