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TR2/3/3A Emergency Brake Adjustment

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Redoakboo

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I am closing in on the complete restoration of my 54 TR-2 Long Door. I am trying to adjust the emergency brake. I have tightened the cable at the crank and both rear cables, still not enough? The cable is well lubricated but still can't get it to work.
Is there another area, maybe at the wheel, where an additional adjustment can be made??

Dick
 
By not work, do you mean click and latch? You called it an emergency brake. It is not. Push the button after you have pulled it tight.

LeT
 
It will click and latch, button does release. Problem is when I pull it back, and it latches, the brakes don't brake?

Dick
 
Dick if the handle part is working correctly, tighten up bakes adjusters, but do not leave the adjustment high on the adjusting cam. You need a long square wrench for those 10 inch shoes the effort to get over the cam to off the brake cam on the last little adjustment is amply? If that does not do it, the cable might be out of adjustment on the cable lines. Take up as much slop as you can. I think tr2 and 3 have the same brake handle, but do not know; you have a different rear brakes than a tr2, so there could be something there. When you pull the handle back, pull it back hard with your hand off the button and let go. Put some lunch behind it and oil it.
 
I will adjust the rear brakes themselves. The prior owner of the car replaced the Lockeed rear with a girling. Having lived with a 55 TR-2 in college, with the Lockeed Rear, I went through 2 axles and 3 rear ends.
 
Yes I have heard tr2 axles were weak. My thoughts were linkage connection systems might be different and not blend together and cables might be different and where and how the rear brakes hook up could cause a problem.

Anyways, really sometimes that last tightening turn on square adjuster on the 10 inch rear brake is difficult and without that correct the shoes do not get close enough to the drum, and the E-brake does not hold as good; to lose the brake handle runs out of clicks before the shoes get to the drum, Sometimes when adjusting those it is like the old story with that last turn --- STOP--- turning a ÂĽ turn before it breaks and you will have it tighten down perfect.
 
I have the Girling System on the rear. There is no adjustment for the rear brakes?? My brakes are stopping fine. When I pull the crank back, and lock it. The cable in the back going through the "T" which also connects with the side cables does not move.
I am going to attempt to remove the cable from the crank to the rear "T"; if I can get it off? Gunk the whole assembly to see if it is jammed somewhere.

Dick
 
There is no adjuster on the rear brakes? What do you mean? There has to be; it is a ÂĽ bolt at the top of backing plates that project out a cam and spreads the shoes apart. It must be turned in all the way and you are not seeing it. The shoes themselves go into it at the of the backing plate. It is held in with 2 bolts
 
The T you are taking about disassembles has swivels on the ends. You should be able to remove it and clean it up and adjust it to fit plus it has zerks on one end; it is a simple but effective system
 
To set up your hand brake for the first time you must set the lengths of the 2 rear cables to the exact length specified in the manual. Then adjust the front cable so you can just release the pressure at the brake back plates. The brakes MUST be properly adjusted before you accomplish the above. Once the cables are adjusted, you should never have to touch the cables again unless they are damaged or the adjusters are loosened. All future adjusting is done by simply adjusting the rear brake shoes.

It cannot be understate that the lengths of the rear cables must be set to the perfect lengths, or else the bellcrank will not work correctly.

If you have the above done and are still not getting the handbrake to work, the cylinders are probably not installed correctly in the back plates. The series of shims and retainers are very important.
 
If you've followed any of my posts, you'll know it's the TR Bible...The Service Instruction Manual, and should always be your first stop for information for your TR2.

N2O5E6S.jpg
 
When all this is done your hand brake lever should be three to four clicks to full brake lock. Any less shoes may drag any more it may not hold on a hill. Madflyer
 
I found the square bolt and adjusted the shoes. I have the entire emergency brake assembly removed , with the exception of the guilty part.The cable is frozen in the outer housing.Grease would not loosen it up. If I could remove it, I might be able to free the cable. Problem-- You can not pull the cable out because the hole in the frame is not large enough to pull it through with that attachments on either end?

Dick
 
I think I know where you mean. There is place where the outer sleeve and inner cable let the inner cable slip out to the ground. There should be a bolt there that needs to come out sometimes with some fiddling. The bolt often seems stuck because it is kinda of pinch fit, but it comes out and you pry the outer sleeve back on the inner and the cable drops out. If the cables are rusted together you might need a replacement. I would drown it in WD40 and see if they slid within each other.

Glad you found the adjuster. If you have new shoes, they take up a lot of space in the drum, so you might need a little wear in on the shoes to get the shoes adjusted. I would try to just get all parts working and freed up now
 
I un-pinched that bolt and the cable is out of the pinch. There were two locations where the bolt pinched the cable. I have the cable assy, with all the hardware on each end, laying on the floor. Short of getting a chisel and enlarging the hole where the assy goes through the frame, I don't see any other way of getting it completely off?

You lost me with "pry the outer sleeve back on the inner and the cable drops out" ??
 
It has been a while, but I think you should be able to spread that open. Yes a chisel for a wedge or a claw hammer and a twist and open, but you should not need to remove any metal.
 
+1
Like Steve says, once the frame brackets have been pinched they must be pried back open. The cable then pulls back and out easily.
 
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