I have a recurring front brake headache. My 63 wagon (with drums all round) pulls to the left. It doesn't happen all the time - only when starting off from cold. The first touch of the brakes results in a violent lurch to the left as the front corner locks up completely. After a couple of applications of the brakes it settles down and brakes perfectly evenly. It tends to behave itself for the rest of the day, first thing next day back to the same woes.

I have had the hubs off a few times and there is no obvious sign of hydraulic leakage. It responds well to having the brake linings and drum roughened up with emery paper but this fix is only temporary. The last time I had the hubs off, I measured everything to see if there was any difference in the geometry of the the brake shoes from one side to the other - there wasn't.

The baffling part is that it only happens when things are stone cold. I have taken to riding the brakes gently for the first block when starting out but I'd love to find out how to fix the problem. I don't believe it is related to the suspension geometry because I would expect geometry errors to give consistent problems - not just at the start of the day.

I have talked to several friends about it and nobody yet has hit on the answer. The next thing to try when I get the time is to swap the brake shoes from one side to the other to see if there is a difference in the lining material.

Has anyone else had such a problem, and if so what was the fix? If I can't work it out I'll probably rebuild the disc brake front end I have out behind the shed and throw that on.