Started the week by finishing off the fitting of the rear brake rods and adjusting them. I now have a working handbrake! Next job was was to prepare the area for refitting the radiator when Colin comes next week. I noted one nut and bolt was missing, so need to measure and order a replacement. Next, I removed the N/S front brake drum and and the brake shoes, ready for repairing the dust shield, which is in a poor state. Noted the linings were not really badly worn, but as I have two sets of new linings I felt I might as well get them done while they were off. The next job was to remove a previous poor repair from the N/S front brake dust shield and remove the worst of the original material. With the previous repair removed I was able to use it to mark out a hardboard template for a replacement dust shield. I used this to cut two exact semicircles of zintec for the new dust shield. The final job of the week was to trim the upper half of the new material to fit around the axle and brake shoe supports and drill ready for punching the hole for checking lining wear.
Tag Archives: rear brakes
15/2/2026
Started the week by positioning the pedal rod temporarily, however the pin needed minor fettling, so had to come out again. This done and with the arrival of the thick washers (which then required machining) I was able to start refitting the brake rods. The pin on the sliding link to the rear brake is a spring anchor; luckily this one was not worn but does need the split pin hole drilling out, a perilous operation in a small item like this but achieved successfully at the expense of two expendable drill bits. It then became clear that with the operating cams set as they are currently, the brake rods to the rear axle were not long enough. So to fix this I began the tedious job of removing and resetting the cams, commencing with heating with oxyacetylene the large nut on the end of the O/S shaft . This seems to have loosened the split pin, but other matters have intervened so the job will not now continue until next week, when the first job will be to properly extract the split pin.
8/2/2026
Off sick the previous ten days, but a good start to the week by finishing bolting in the main servo and screwing in the rear brake rod. Pipework was next next, tricky to fit. The connections on the pipe to the reservoir was fitted. After that, the handbrake bracket was reattached and the pedal rod screwed into the servo. The final job of the week was to fill the servo with vegetable oil, as recommended by Clayton, and replace the top cover. This completed the work for this week. I am waiting now for the washers to complete the reinstallation of the brake rods and adjustment of the rear brakes.