Poor brakes with no feeling

[Reckless Rat]

The main engineering reason for leading/trailing set up on rear drums is to provide some auto servo effect when reversing. All leading might be ok going forwards but it's not the most efficient when going in reverse. More so for moderns with assistance which would be absent with a dead engine.

[AustinWood]

Bendix brakes, as fitted to hillmans, Standards and others do virtually nothing in reverse. Has been know to lead to interesting situations!

[Bill Sheehan]

For weeks now I've been intrigued by the title of the post - Poor brakes with no feeling.  I'd suggest the title should read Poor brakes, feeling abject fear.   Cheers,  Bill in Oz

[Roger Goldthorpe]

Bendix brakes, as fitted to hillmans, Standards and others do virtually nothing in reverse. Has been know to lead to interesting situations!

Suffered many a panic attack when reversing my Standard.     

Roger

[AustinWood]

A friend had a Standard Nine tourer with Bendix brakes. It also oiled plugs so the glove box was full of plugs & a wire brush to keep passengers busy.
They took it in for MoT in Guildford. When it was out to test the brakes it went down onto 3 cylinders and wouldn't reach 30mph for the Tapley brake test so the tester took it up a hill so he could test it on the way down. Unfortunately it then went down on to 2 cylinders and couldn't climb the hill. The tester then discovered that Bendix brakes don't work in reverse! He left it parked 1/2 on the pavement against a tree.