Brake issue

[Rowls Mini]

I pulled a rear brake drum off to find the gaiter on one end of the wheel cylinder was chewed up and there was debris all over the brakes. I haven't seen a significant drop in the brake fluid level. Is this just the start of a failing cylinder or something worse? debris in brake.jpg

[Mark]

I am not sure of much of the rubber parts being supplied these days, whether it is part of a complete cylinder or if it's a kit to install in your existing cylinder. Do you happen to know the cylinder you have there?

Anyhow, that looks like one side is considerably more degraded. Almost as though it was scraped or pierced in some way?

I wish you the best of luck finding a suitable, longer lasting replacement.
If you'd like to experiment with a N.O.S. seal kit, I may have it here. Do you know what brand and number that is? (I know, I know, Experiment with Brakes.....)
Best regards,
Mark

[mascher]

I think your brake shoes may be on backwards. Meaning that each one may need to be flipped top to bottom (it would probably do the same thing to swap them left/right in the same orientation) . This assumes that this is the left-hand-side of the car. There is some confusion in the manuals on this point but it appears to be because they don't say which side their drawing is representing.
The ripped gaiter may have been caused by the brake shoe moving down and tearing it at some point. From vague memory there is something that can be mis-arranged in the handbrake pieces that can cause something like this.
Given how dirty and possibly greasy it looks I would worry about the wheel bearing grease seals. As Mark indicates, bad rubber parts are pretty common.

Kelley

[Rowls Mini]

I think all of the crud is a mixture of rubber and brake fluid. There doesn't appear to be any grease coming out of the wheel bearing. With the crud on the brake shoes and drum I'm replacing the wheel cylinder, shoes and drum (both sides).