TR2/3/3A TR3 Front Banjo Connectors

[mgedit]

Just curious if anyone makes replacement connectors for the brake lines in a 56 TR3 to replace the banjo bolt setup with a brass fitting with the appropriate connections. What advantage does the banjo setup offer? Cheers, Mike

 

[Andrew Mace]

I don't know that there's any particular advantage to that setup, but it seems to work just fine!

 

[sp53]

Banjo bolts are still used on some vehicles. Check with a hydraulicshop that works on big rigs and tractors, stuff like that.

 

[mgedit]

Thanks for your thoughts, just seems somewhat complicated connection, but it has worked for a long time. Cheers, Mike

 

[martx-5]

Banjo bolts use two ,usually copper, washers to seal the brake fitting onto a flat machined seat on the outside of the caliper casting. The other type of fitting has the brake tube/hose flare seating on an angled machine surface inside the inlet hole of the caliper. It would be pretty much impossible to go from a banjo type inlet to a flared tube/hose type. Going the other way would be easier, but would still require some machine work on the calipers.

We rebuild calipers here at work, and the banjo style is used as much as the interior seat style. As Andy mentioned, one type has no particular advantage over the other.

 

[vivdownunder]

Far as I know the banjo fittings were just the conventional wisdom of the day for the front brake junctions, and to incorporate the brake light switch. Evolving to just one x five way connector on the frame for the disc braked cars would have reduced assembly time and component cost - always high priority at the factory.

Viv.

 

[TR3driver]

If it has banjo bolts in the brakes, then it is an earlier 56 with Lockheed drum brakes. Girling disc brakes (like my current 56 has) used ordinary double flare fittings instead. As Art mentioned, one advantage of the banjo fittings is that you can easily replace the sealing elements when they become work-hardened through many R&R cycles. With SAE flare fittings, the line itself forms the seal, and has to be replaced after a fairly limited number of cycles. That's why the racers generally eliminate the flare fittings.

Sorry, no help on conversion; except you might look into whether you can buy AN adapters that will fit. Personally, I didn't like the Lockheed drum brakes on a previous 56 TR3; I never could get them to work consistently every time and they seemed much more prone to fade than the disc brakes. So if I was going to do any conversion, I'd convert to disc brakes. But YMMV of course.

Here's a good article on brake plumbing, with lots of references for more reading:
https://www.dimebank.com/tech/BrakePlumbing.html

One of the Carroll Smith books has a good section on brake plumbing as well. Unfortunately I can't recall the name at the moment, but it's the one that he wanted to call "Screw to Win".

 

[mgedit]

Thanks to all for the additional input. Very informative as usual. Cheers, Mike