Wedge TR8 Rear Brake help needed - please!

[Bill Bledsoe]

Hi,
I'm new here - and have a 1980 TR8 (and a 1980 TR7 - but this is about the TR8).

I'm working on the rear brakes. The car had been sitting up for a year or so and the brakes seemed sticky so I pulled the drums and had them turned. While I'm down there I also lubed some of the handbrake mechanicals/cable.
Then I did a stupid thing - I wanted to make sure that the brake shoes were moving so I stepped on the pedal. And they moved. And the auto adjusters ratcheted out right along with the shoes. Fortunately, the pistons didn't come out of the wheel cylinders.

But I'm not familiar with the auto adjuster plates in these brakes. I've got the TR7 Repair Operations Manual (Red cover - white letters) and it's not much help.

The question: Is there an easy way to reset the auto adjusters so that the shoes go back to a diameter that I can get the drum back on? Any pointers or heads ups? I'd like to not have to disassemble the shoes and springs if at all possible.

Thanks alot for any help!
--Bill

 

[Dale]

Welcome to the best forum on the net, and an extra howdy to another TR7-8 person. I recently put new wheel cylinders on my 7 and I was at first intimidated by all the springs and links in there. Retracting the self adjusters is a matter of seperating the aligator teeth looking dogs behind the web on the brake shoe. There is an access hole in the backing plate so that this can be done with the drum on, but with the drum off it can be done from the outside. You probably heard the ratchets go "scrriiitch" when you pushed the pedal, the ratchet teeth interlock so that seperating them is the only way to get the shoes back in. If memory serves there is a slot in one half that a screwdriver can be inserted in and turned to accomplish this. It's pretty simple, but it looks at first glance that the British engineers went out of their way to obscure that. Hope this helps and don't hesitate to let me know if I've only clouded the issue so someone more compitent than I can jump in with the straight skin. Good Luck and again welcome.

 

[Mark Beiser]

If my digital camera was actually working, I would post a pic with an arrow pointing to the hole you stick the screwdriver in. I have my TR7's axle sitting on blocks under my workbench.

 

[Bill Bledsoe]

Thanks for the heads up guys. I'll go at this again and let you all know how it goes.
--Bill

 

[Bob Claffie]

Excuse me if this sounds too simple but- If the drums are already off why not turn the self adjusters all the way in (shortest length possible), slip them between the shoes then put the drums on. If the adjusters are still in place you may have to lever the blade that adjusts them out of the way. Once the drums are on you can tighten the adjusters up as above or just spend the rest of the week backing up and applying the brakes. Or did I miss something like the parts disassembling themselves? If so, my apologies, Bob

[ 01-20-2004: Message edited by: Bob Claffie ]</p>

 

[Mark Beiser]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Bob Claffie:
Excuse me if this sounds too simple but- If the drums are already off why not turn the self adjusters all the way in (shortest length possible), slip them between the shoes then put the drums on. If the adjusters are still in place you may have to lever the blade that adjusts them out of the way. Once the drums are on you can tighten the adjusters up as above or just spend the rest of the week backing up and applying the brakes. Or did I miss something like the parts disassembling themselves? If so, my apologies, Bob<hr></blockquote>

The TR7&8 has a different type of self adjuster than you are thinking of.

 

[Bill Bledsoe]

Well...I've got it taken care of. No problem really. Thanks for hints given here. Now I'm getting ready to sell it. I'll post a message in the classifieds, but if anyone is interested, look at www.tr7tr8.com and click the TR8 link.
Thanks,
Bill

 

[Dale]

Say it ain't so or tell us what you've got your heart set on to replace it after you sell.

 

[Dale]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Dale:
Say it ain't so or tell us what you've got your heart set on to replace it after you sell.<hr></blockquote>

I confess I cannot abide my own hypocrisy. I'm the guy that sold a perfectly good TR3A to pay off taxes.