Tight Box!!

[gti69]

I recently thought my 91 8v front brakes were on slightly, if i pulled off slowly and let put the clutch down (or in neutral) the car would stop as if i had put my foot on the brakes. It also felt quite sluggish. At the weekend i was changing my front discs and pads, i tried to push the car with no discs and pads on (with the wheels on of course  ) and the car was hard to push and again stopped as if the brakes were on!

The back brakes are definitely not on as the wheels spin freely, a friend suggested it could be a tight gearbox, is he full of sh*te? The Wheel bearings (front and back) are less than a week old and the clutch has only been in a month.

Please help, it driving me mad and i may just set fire to it if anything else goes wrong

btw, the car has had a 16v brake conversion.

[sKrEwBaLL]

Nuttin wrong with a tight box mate.  Just think yourself lucky.  

[gti69]

You can't beat a tight box, i agree But not on my car!!

[tinman]

I recently thought my 91 8v front brakes were on slightly, if i pulled off slowly and let put the clutch down (or in neutral) the car would stop as if i had put my foot on the brakes. It also felt quite sluggish. At the weekend i was changing my front discs and pads, i tried to push the car with no discs and pads on (with the wheels on of course  ) and the car was hard to push and again stopped as if the brakes were on!

The back brakes are definitely not on as the wheels spin freely, a friend suggested it could be a tight gearbox, is he full of sh*te? The Wheel bearings (front and back) are less than a week old and the clutch has only been in a month.

Please help, it driving me mad and i may just set fire to it if anything else goes wrong

btw, the car has had a 16v brake conversion.

pushing a 1 ton car hmmm.

pushing the car is pointless. if the brakes were on, you wouldn't budge it.

the gearbox theory is interesting.

the real test is to jack to the front of the car up, put it in neutral, and twirl the front wheels. they should be completely free.

if they aren't then you should check the calipers are not tight on the disc and you are getting rubbing, if its not the calipers then it could be something (theoretically) with the gearbox.

it could be the wheel bearings. but doubtful as they are new, and if it happens on both sides of the car, then the chance of two busted wheel bearings will be slim. If they are busted they'll also be noisey.

Get back to us and tell us what happens.

Tin

[gti69]

I tried to push the car with no discs and pads on (with the wheels on of course  ) and the car was hard to push and again stopped as if the brakes were on!

The calipers were redundent, the car was being pushed down a slight hill also so really shouldn't have stopped!

I am taking it to a friend who is a mechanic on Sat, hopefully he should be able to shed some light on it

[tinman]

I tried to push the car with no discs and pads on (with the wheels on of course  ) and the car was hard to push and again stopped as if the brakes were on!

The calipers were redundent, the car was being pushed down a slight hill also so really shouldn't have stopped!

I am taking it to a friend who is a mechanic on Sat, hopefully he should be able to shed some light on it

pushing a car really isn't a good way of identifying a problem.

[Gambit]

do the calipers foul the wheels?

[karmakanix]

if you think it is a tight box just remove the drive shafts and try again (while you are at it put 50psi in the tyres, better still stick 4 space savers on, fill it up with fuel, and find a steeper hill......)

[Blue MK2]

Put the handbreak full off then push the car to see if the rear breaks 'squeek'.
Maybe the handbreak is still on and needs adjusting ?

[gti69]

pushing a car really isn't a good way of identifying a problem.

I know that! Not very scientific, but it did serve it's purpose, i wouldn't want to drive it with no brakes, pushing it was a compromise.