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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Rear brake adjusters

I am replacing the rear brake adjusters as the square ends have become rounded over time.

Should the new ones be lubricated in any way when they are installed?
Roger D

Do you mean the screwed adjusters? I assume you do. Yes. I use either copper grease or regular. Oodles of it. And lube the internal sliders too. Again I use copper grease.
anamnesis

Thanks Anam,

Yes it is the screwed adjusters.Copper grease it is.
Roger D

Roger

Did you find a good source for replacement adjusters?

Cheers
Mike
M Wood

Hi Mike,

Just been doing the same on my car. I have had multiple issues with adjusters and the tappets so splashed out on these as the blurb was quite convincing...

https://www.minispares.com/product/Classic/Brakes/Shoes/Shoes/17H7620.aspx?040602&ReturnUrl=/search/classic/brake%20adjusters.aspxBack%20to%20search

HTH
Malc.
Malcolm

Where the adjuster protrudes through the back of the backplate there is a welded on steel 'bridge'. Wet road dirt accumulates around that. I cut a collar of heater tube to fit behind that, packed it with grease and inserted the adjuster through it.

The threaded of the boss in the backplate that the adjuster screws through can also get worn or damaged which would normally mean a new backplate. I don't know about availability now but a few years ago there were NLA. I drilled out the old bosses and welded in a new stepped collar which worked out well. (Collars thanks to Paul who sometimes posts here on the BBS, who made them on his lathe)
GuyW

A very nice idea the rubber collars Guy. I'll copy that. Thanks. 😁

And thinking about it, it's such an obviously needed 'dirt excluder/grease retainer', like steering gaitors, it's a wonder it wasn't a factory fit.
anamnesis

Mike

I got mine from MGOC spares. They haven't arrived yet in darkest Dordogneshire but they were cheaper than the Minispares ones.
Roger D

Yeah, well I had had enough of cheapy ones not doing the job. I had a couple of sets of tappets that weren't right - the adjuster bored a hole through them rather than push them outwards!

When you are blatting along at 100mph on a track day and then having to double pump the pedal at the end of the straight because the rear brakes adjusters have crapped out and won't adjust up properly (again), it's a bit unnerving and time to spend a few quid more for a quality and lasting solution (hopefully!).

Cheers,
Malc.
Malcolm

Malc,
Been there done that! It was in a Mallock clubmans car at Snetterton at the end of the Sear straight. Concentrates the mind most wonderfully!
Roger D

Nice! :-D
Malcolm

???? How do I remove the brake adjuster wedge? I realise that it comes out towards you but as you unscrew it the square end protrudes less and less from the bridge on the back plate and I can't grip it to make the last few turns needed to remove the wedge!
Help!!
Roger D

Isn’t there a slot in the cone you can get a screwdriver into-to bring it towards you?
Philip Sellen

Philip,


I don't think so, I'll have a look. I did think of cutting a slot in the square part of the adjuster but I don't think I can get a hacksaw to it.
Roger D

This thread was discussed between 10/10/2023 and 13/10/2023

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