Have we got any Transit specialists on the forum?
Referring back to this Transit I bought a little while ago, I have been going through it before I put it on the road into service. I checked the rear drum brakes a couple of weeks ago and found that the trailing shoes were very close to the 1 mm limit, and that the brake cylinders were leaking and the drums were beyond their 282 mm diameter limit, so yes the rear brakes were worn out.
I bought new shoes and cylinders last week and put them on, renewed the complete braking system fluid and found that the offside rear brake adjuster was damaged after removal because somebody had fitted the brake shoe return spring the wrong way round, thus causing the adjuster to be chafed and damaged. Driving the van there were no noticeable problems with the brakes after fitting those parts.
I ordered new brake drums off ebay from a Transit specialist supplier were the drums sent were the wrong diameter, they advised me they were the correct ones, then when I advised them they were wrong at the point of delivery, they then said in so many words that it was my fault. Their ebay platform has a facility on it for the buyer to select the vehicle of your choice, I selected mine and it came up on their listed selections and I was lead to believe the brake drums were the correct ones, when I told then differently they said my van was an odd ball and then advised me they would credit the drums back and gave me a new listing for what they advised were the correct drums for my van.
I bought a second pair of drums which are the correct diameter and they fit, they look new and are listed as new, but they have serious amounts of excessive fluctuation and the brake pedal can be felt to pulse back and forth quite badly, which did not occur before the drums were changed.
I appreciate that the drum brakes on these vans can be quite tricky to achieve the correct brake adjustments without brake bind and drag present, but had none of these symptoms prior to fitting the new drums.
I have measured the brake drums diameters and they do appear to be 280 mm and they do look new, but I have heard that people have had problems with Ford commercial vehicles and brake drums with models like the Transit Connect, and am wondering now if the drums are in some way faulty?
Anybody had any dealings with these Ford's and had any issues with the brakes like this?
Thanks