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MG MGB Technical - Rear wheel brake adjuster

I decided to fit the new rear wheel brake adjuster to my 73 B having removed the wheel and drum , loosened of the securing nuts from the adjuster spread the linings and popped the old adjuster out. I have now fit the new adjuster, and secured it , the problem I have is that I can't get the drum back on, I've tried centralising the linings but the drum still won't go on. Has anyone of you guys had this problem and how did you resolve it.
Any ideas you come up with I will try, the only idea I have at the moment is to remove the new brake adjuster and refit the old one and see if I can get the drum back on.

Regards Patrick
P.T. Tighe

Have you turned the new adjuster in so as to make the brake shoe assembly as small as possible? The new adjusters I fitted (three cars) have all worked fine and were very close to the originals in size and function. But, all of them were set to something other than the minimum setting and all had to be adjusted before the brake drums would fit over the shoes again.

Les
Les Bengtson

What happens without the springs fitted, are the shoes seating properly? Have you compared the old and new adjusters.
When i replaced mine they dropped straight in.
Stan Best

Hi Les,
Yes Les, I've ensured that the adjuster is completely backed of, I've even removed the adjuster and turned it through 180 digress and refit it but still the drum won't go on.

Regards Patrick
P.T. Tighe

Stan,
I have not tried it with the springs of but the shoes look like they are seated correctly. Although the cone on the adjusting screw looks steeper than the adjusting screw on the original, I suspect the new adjuster was made in china.

Patrick
P.T. Tighe

as all was well before the change there can only be three reasons ;0)
Either the slot in the adjuster body is not deep enough or the screw is wrong or the sliding pins in the adjuster are too long.
A couple of daft suggestions...
try with the screw out altogether to make sure the shoes are not being held too far out by the adjuster body slots.. then if the old adjuster isn't seized try the old pins then the screw.
One or more should result in a fix.... I hope ;0)

MGmike

M McAndrew

MGmike,
Those are good suggestion first thing tomorrow I will try putting the drum on with the slotted adjusters removed, unfortunately the original
Adjuster the square on the threaded bolt had broken of.

Regards Patrick
P.T. Tighe

You are turning the adjuster the correct way, which is screwing it towards the middle of the car as far as it will go?

You have got the tappets sitting on the flat parts of the adjuster, and not on an edge?

Are the shoes seated in the slots in the tappets and in the slave?

I always have to tap one shoe up and one shoe down to get the drum back on after having mine off.
PaulH Solihull

Hi everyone, thank you for your good advice, anew day always seems sort the minor problems, I offered the drum up and gave it a tap with the hammer and it start to go on over the brake linings tapped it up all the way over the studs and it was solid and would not rotate, ( small panic at this stage,) thought I will just check and see if the adjuster would back of anymore, and it went back a full turn drum now rotates. Pressed the foot brake a few times operated hand brake readjusted brake job done, ( could swear I adjusted that adjuster fully back on bench before I fit it to back plate.) Thankyou everyone.

Regards Patrick
P.T. Tighe

When adjusting I tap the drum with a mallet to seat the shoes as I'm turning the adjuster. Then after pumping the foot brake and yanking the handbrake a few times I tap with a mallet again to, replicate road vibration as that may allow the shoes to come off a little bit more. Adjusting the handbrake I prefer that the first click makes no retardation, only the second, then I know they are fully off when they are fully down.

Are these new shoes as well? If not I'd be a bit concerned if there is only one turn of the adjuster available.
PaulH Solihull

Hi Paul,
All though I did not fit these shoes I'm certain that the previous owner had fit new shoes when he had the car as there was plenty of brake material on the shoes.

Regards Patrick
P.T. Tighe

This thread was discussed between 07/11/2012 and 09/11/2012

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