Not again!
Glug hasn’t moved much lately…
1968 LAND ROVER SERIES IIA
A tedious pattern has developed – if I leave ‘Glug’ for a month or so, its brakes seize and, living in a wet and windy part of the world without a garage, the fix is rarely as swift as it should be. Call me a wimp, but in my book, rain stops play. A degree of procrastination is usually involved too, followed by guilt and frustration, by which point the brakes are obviously worse. It’s a pain.
The blue language was particularly acute during the latest palaver. One of the front brakes was binding, so I grabbed a sunny spell and set to work. But the drum wouldn’t let go without half an hour of whacking it with a mallet (my ears are still ringing), even with the shoe adjuster wound back. With it finally off I could see that one of the cylinders was knackered, so I ordered a new one. I also took the opportunity to replace the pipe that connects the two cylinders; someone had fitted a new one round the front of the hub a few years ago, when it should run round the back where it’s better protected. The existing one wasn’t malleable enough to bend to its new route, so I ordered a new one of those, too.
But there was clearly a bigger issue to tackle; the inside of the drum was covered with oil, and checking the lubricant level in the swivel joint gave a clue as to why. Oil was spurting out of the fill-plug under high pressure – it shouldn’t, and clearly this was forcing oil through to the brakes. The stub axle would need to be removed to examine the seal between it and the axle casing, where the oil must be originating. Big job, cup of tea time. And then it rained.
It rained the next day, too, and the next. After nearly a month of daily downpours, the stricken Land Rover found itself caught in a flash flood with eight inches of grotty water suddenly sloshing up to its axles. The local energy company poked a drainage ditch back into life so the waters subsided, but the rain continued for weeks on end.
A month later, the brakes are finally back together and I’ve booked a garage to fix that oil issue – otherwise it’ll never happen!