Series Land Rover (UK/Europe)
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Brake & Clutch Pedals on the Series Land Rover

A fairly common, but slow to recognise problem, is a gradually increasing pressure required to operate the clutch and/or brake pedals. Eventually this can lead to a clutch or brake pedal that does not fully return to its correct height above the floor. In the case of the clutch, the clutch driven plate can fail to contact the flywheel fully when your foot is removed from the pedal as the Land Rover is starting off: You may wrongly diagnose a worn clutch plate in this situation when the engine revs do not correlate well with the vehicle's speed. In the case of the brakes, then the brake shoes may not fully retract after use: You may wrongly diagnose a sticking brake slave cylinder and the wheel rims may feel unduly warm after a drive.

The root cause of these problems is corrosion near the pedal bushes as a result of water spray entering inside the pedal mounting brackets. The clutch and brake brackets of the Series II and early Series IIA Land Rovers are open to the elements on the windscreen side when fitted and so suffer more from corrosion around the spindle. A bolt on the engine side of the clutch and brake pedal brackets is fitted to allow access for lubrication purposes. This bolt is absent in the Series III brackets but the end of the spindle is left accessible so that lubrication can be achieved.

The solution to the spindle corrosion problem is to remove the offending pedal and bracket as one unit from inside the engine bay (you need to turn the unit 90 degrees once disconnected, to allow the pedal to exit through the bulkhead hole). The pedal assembly needs to be dismantled by removing the split pin which holds the pedal shaft in place. The shaft and bush should be lubricated, re-assembled and re-fitted.

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