Land Rover Brakes

Here is a little more info to go along with the previous post and between the two it should give you all the info you require to convert your 2a brakes.

'Series' vehicles have acquired a reputation for poor brakes. Once again, this is not really the vehicles' fault - much of the perceived poor performance is caused by lack of maintenance and the use of cheap substandard replacement parts. However, the braking system design underwent several changes over the years, so it is worth looking at the various differences to see what can be done to upgrade the older vehicles.

Most 'Series' vehicles had one of two types of braking system. 109 inch vehicles, and 88 inch from mid-1980 onwards, had 11 inch front brakes of the twin leading shoe (TLS) type. This is a pretty good system and when in good condition should be more than enough for most people's needs. Pre 1980 88 inch vehicles had 10 inch single leading shoe (SLS) brakes, which are a little more marginal. They will cope fine with a lightly laden vehicle driven at modern speeds, but emergency braking, downhill and fully laden, may find them wanting. Having said which the 10 inch SLS brakes seem to require less maintenance than the 11 inch TLS system and are a lot simpler to work on. It is possible to convert earlier 88 inch vehicles to the TLS system, but the brake master cylinder will need to be changed to the 109 inch type.

Servo assistance was available as an option on the 109 inch Series III, and was fitted as standard to Station Wagons and to later 88 inch vehicles. With a servo fitted the brakes require far less pressure to operate, and in modern traffic conditions it is well worth having. It is possible to retrofit a Series III brake servo to almost any 'Series' vehicle, but it really needs to be fitted in conjunction with the TLS front brakes. Land Rover never made servo brakes available with the SLS system, so there is no suitable master cylinder available. To fit a Series III servo to a Series II or IIA, the offside front wing needs to be cut back, and a new underwing mudshield fitted. As an alternative, it is possible to fit an aftermarket in-line servo, which avoids the need to cut the wing and allows the vehicle to be returned easily to original unmodified condition. This option will work with the SLS brakes.

Up to 1980, Land Rovers generally had single circuit brake hydraulics. In this system, if a component fails (such as a burst pipe), all the fluid will be lost resulting in total brake failure. Post 1980 vehicles had dual circuit brakes, where the hydraulics are split into two separate circuits (front and rear), each with its own fluid supply. This is a much safer system, as a loss of fluid in one circuit will not lead to total loss of brakes. The dual circuit system can be retrofitted to earlier vehicles, but needs a special master cylinder which can only be fitted to servo-equipped vehicles with TLS front brakes. This later system is as good as you are going to get with Land Rover components: if you still need more performance (for example, if you have a V8 powered vehicle, or tow heavy trailers in hilly areas) you might need to think about the disc brake conversions which are available from various suppliers