WWT338J Posted June 11, 2020 Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 Wise Men Can you advise me on how to 'adjust' self-adjusting rear brakes on my late mkIII GT6? Adjusting the handbrake to be specific. The brake pedal seems to work fine but the handbrake is virtually useless. I've tried taking up slack in the cable on each side with negligible benefit. The handbrake lever travel seems excessive but the resulting braking force is woeful. I've tried searching for this but not found anything yet. Thanks David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyman Posted June 11, 2020 Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 Hi David, disconnect handbrake cable on both sides. Then wind the self adjusters bit by bit trying on the drum each time. Also press the pedal from time to time to centralise shoes. Long and drawn out process, but it is the only way. Only reconnect you cable when the pedal is good.. Tony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted June 11, 2020 Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 the primery (cable from handbrake lever to the compensator) cable setting needs the compensator lever to be 15deg rearwards of centre to get an effective pull on the 2ndary cable .as for adjusting the non working self adjusters i would have a think about drill two holes with a cone cutter/step drill so you can access the adjusting wheel with a screwdriver ( this was a common design in the day) two holes opposite to maintain drum balance , so with torch and a blade you can wind the adjuster through the hole just an idea but if the pedal is good the shoe adjustment doesnt sound its far off ???? and your main problem is slack in the cables Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poppyman Posted June 11, 2020 Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 Forgot to mention, only press the brake with the drums on....... I have known people do it the other way Also you will have to releasr all the adjustment on your cables to get them to reconnect. Also make sure the cylinders slide on the back plate. Tony. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted June 11, 2020 Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 First two words don't apply to me... but: The handbrake should work, regardless of the self adjuster assembly, so I'd reckon something else isn't right. On my late Mk3 the lever used to undo the brakes rather than tighten them, this was due to wear, but they slackened off very quickly in use. You need to treat the self-adjuster the same as you would treat the bottom adjuster on earlier cars; adjust it right out until the drums just about fit over the shoes, then adjust the handbrake to suit. If you try to adjust the shoes by repeated pulling on and off of the handbrake, it may actually undo them rather than expand them. Pete's idea of drilling holes to manually adjust the adjusters is good, but along with that I'd remove the levers altogether so that they can't undo the shoes, or revert to the earlier system with a bottom-shoe adjuster. The shoes will still have to be adjusted as they wear, but at least you know every pull of the handbrake is not loosening them, like mine did. I've found a video illustrating how they work, but not giving any help... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted June 11, 2020 Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 The “self adjusting” rear brakes are one of many poor Triumph designs, maybe they would have got it right eventually? But by the age they all are now the levers are bent out of shape, unrecoverable, and the brakes are “non self adjusting”. With the car jacked up and wheels chocked let the hand brake off and take the wheel and drum off. Adjust the ratchet until the drum just about goes back on. Press the foot brake to realign the shoes and do it all again to be sure. Put it all back together then do the other side. THEN try the hand brake and think about cable adjustments as described above. I have seriously considered reverting the mechanism to the previous adjustment method, but the expense is too much to justify it and after all how often do they have to be adjusted? Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWT338J Posted June 11, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2020 Thanks everyone for the helpful comments. I'll try these tricks and report back. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Posted June 12, 2020 Report Share Posted June 12, 2020 My 1500 Dolly had this problem. Adjusted as per manual but not really improvement so after fitting new cylinders, drilled 15mm hole in drum at right position (think it was 1-1/4in from wheel stud, but check) and inserted flat blade screwdriver through and tightened up one click at time. I will, obviously, check after several hundred miles (?) that all is OK, but at the moment the handbrake is working a treat and the foot brake feels OK after a good bleed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted June 13, 2020 Report Share Posted June 13, 2020 10 hours ago, Rabbit said: My 1500 Dolly had this problem. Adjusted as per manual but not really improvement so after fitting new cylinders, drilled 15mm hole in drum at right position (think it was 1-1/4in from wheel stud, but check) and inserted flat blade screwdriver through and tightened up one click at time. I will, obviously, check after several hundred miles (?) that all is OK, but at the moment the handbrake is working a treat and the foot brake feels OK after a good bleed. Indeed my sprint axle is the same. I drilled the drum, can't remember the size, but enough to be able to click the adjuster, and equally important, to use a pokey thing to lift the adjuster arm off the "notched wheel" and back the brakes off when it comes to remove the drum. A tip I picked up from a mechanic who maintained a fleet of vehicles fitted with self-adjusters, and as he put it, nobody appears to have considered taking the brakes apart once the drums have started to wear, even within limits. They all got drilled.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardS Posted June 13, 2020 Report Share Posted June 13, 2020 I have a thread running in the Drivetrain forum at the moment which mentions the self-adjusting brakes as my handbrake and self-adjusters don't work very well. I could see that something was not right but did not realise that both my rears are missing a part, the H-clip 519760. Perhaps check that you have this part which fits inside the rectangular hole through which the brake actuating lever operates. I suspect that without the H-clip, the system is, even more, doomed to fail. 😞 Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Clark Posted June 13, 2020 Report Share Posted June 13, 2020 I've only experienced Triumph's self adjusting drum brakes on the rear of a TR7. They are difficult to assemble and don't work well in my opinion. Manual adjusters are preferable, they do the job easily and don't need adjusting often. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Lewis Posted June 13, 2020 Report Share Posted June 13, 2020 the 2000 and many other makes have a hole for de adjusting the internal whatever , i got some economical replacements for the 2000 from a good supplier , no holes so these were essential if you ever needed to remove a drum so I drilled two replacement holes (cone cutter/step drills are good for this ) fitted and found they had i presume been turned on a lathe so with chuck jaw compressions we had enormous lobed brake surface so they went in the bin i kept the holes in a bag for future use but they escaped the old drums went back on ...peace and smooth braking resumed Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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