Not brake bleeding but BLEEDING BRAKES!

[john 4d]

I can't say how frustrating a job re-assembling my rear brakes was today. No wonder most modern cars have discs all around.

Top pull off spring fitted to the hidden face of the shoes? Someones having a laugh! Self adjustment mechanism, especially designed on the same hidden face, so that when you connect the hand brake lever linkage and associated tension spring, and pop the toothed cam there's no way to reset it! I seem to recall in previous cars I've owned a hole in the back plate so a screw driver could access the purposely designed slot in the toothed pawl for said resetting adjustment. Ah, but that's just what Triumph thought we might expect. What about the circlip holding the brake cylinder to the back plate, lethal or what? I got it on eventually after chasing it around the garage a few times.And last but not leasedlets not forget those delightful little shoe hold down springs, collars and pins. O joy, with one hand compressing the spring with all my might, the other holding in the pin and keeping the shoe in place, my darling wife provided the third with a pair of long nose pliers to turn the pin thru 90. Easy! not after trying for a couple of hours to do it by my self.

The only thing that makes me feel better is knowing I'll pay anything to let a garage do it for me next time I need new brakes. Give me a cylinder head stuck on a block any day.

Anyone else have similar issues? Anyone else find it a doddle?

John

[DJT]

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John,

A bit late now, but as you were rebuilding from scratch it would have been easier to assemble the cylinder, shoes and springsonto the backplate whilst it was on the bench, and then fit the whole assembly to the car.

Granted the 'c'-clip is a bit of a struggle, but the shoe retaining clips are easy. Just steady the pin in place with one hand, slip thecoil spring in place thenholding the retaining plate in a pair of standard pliers, offer it up, push, and turn. With practice it is a doddle.

Dave

[john 4d]

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Dave, to be honest, I remember now thatwhen I stripped the brakes down about 10 or 12 years ago I thought reassembly would be an easier job fitted off the car or at least on the car prior to fitting the hub and half shafts. Doh!

Still a bitch of a job though. Still got 2 of those retaining springs to fit (tried your way and failed, no patience, wifey way will have to do.)and I've also gotto reset one of the self adjusters tomorrow how can that be done without stripping the shoes off? I think I might drill those missing holes.

John.

P.S.Good choice of colour! Original?

[Tee Cee]

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I remember struggling fora few hours over a couple of daywhenI put my car back together, then I compared the new springs to the old ones I had takenoff and found out that thenew onesare actually shorter, hence the struggle!. I cleaned up theold ones as there was nothing actually wrong with them and then they went on with no hassleat all.

[Kevin Garrod]

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I've read a lot anout the trouble people have hade with Stag brakes and I've said before that maybe I'm missing something, but I've never had a problem so just lucky I guess.

Here's a pic I took some time ago, if you rotate the hub you can get access to the the self adjusters through the holes, I just used a big screw driver to reset them:?.

As for the C clips, do you mean the clips which hold the wheel cylinders in place? I used a socket which just fitted over the clip and a hammer to fit it in place. There is an earlier thread here somewhere with a more elaborate method, maybe a search will reveal it?

[john 4d]

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Nope. The new springs I recieved from Paddocks this morning are fine, what didn't help was that 3 of the 4 pins where 5mm shorter than the originals, and the one that was correct wouldn't pass through the collar opening. Like you I cleaned up the originals, they fit and good for useeven if unplated.