Afternoon all,

Trying to work out why my rear brakes are so rubbish.

The current setup I have (a. in the diagram) has the pipe going to one brake cylinder, then out to the other side. So that there is only one nipple.
As far as my understanding of physics goes there should be the same force on each?

Would I be better moving to a more "balanced" layout. With a T piece in the middle (b. in the diagram)?


brake setup style a and b

Either will work perfectly well and exactly the same.

a) is how Ford built the English axle.

b) is how I'm running my brakes and I did that because I decided it would be easier to manually bleed.

Ford used that layout for decades it never gave any problems.

The new system would be easier to bleed and so you may get an improved system stiffness through reduction of air entrapped, but otherwise considering everything is connected there's no difference in the functionality.

The other really subtle/negligible difference is reduction in hose length would reduce compliance, but this is likely to be insignificant compared to drum expansion, wheel cylinder expansion, air in the fluid, etc etc.

Have you ensured the adjusters are working properly to maintain minimum pad/shoe gap? Made sure the handbrake cable is not tensioned up before the adjusters? Is there a bias system which is hydraulically throttling the rears? If its all correct then it leads to the friction material not working : contamination, warping of drum/disc, worn etc.