• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

TR6 Special tool needed to adjust TR6 rear brakes?

Share this page

T

tdskip

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
Good morning!

I'm working through the new (to me) TR6 and it appears that the rear brakes are seized. She was stored for a long time with the hand brake on, and now even after rocking her back and forth her rear brakes are still seized.

I think - and feel free to offer better ideas - my next step is to back off her rear brakes by adjusting them counter clockwise.

Do I need a special tool to do this? Any tips?

Thanks!
 
No. Any 1/4" open-end wrench will do if the adjusters are not stuck. If they are...actually whether they are or not...best options are a spoke wrench with 1/4" opening and deep jaws, or "purpose-designed" wrenches available from most Triumph vendors. Yet another option is a large adjustable wrench, which by design will have jaws deep enough so as not to risk rounding off the squared peg. Some even use a 1/4" drive socket reversed, with an appropriate nut/bolt in the other end in turn driven by whatever wrench fits the nut/bolt.

It is not uncommon (as hinted at above) to find these adjusters seized up. It can't hurt to spray some of your favorite penetrating oil on the threads. If that's not enough, carefully heat the exposed part of the adjuster with a propane torch until it breaks free. Once loose again and brakes disassembled, two nuts are all that's needed to remove the adjuster from the backing plate. Then clean, grease up with a bit of white lithium grease, reassemble and reinstall.

Mid-1980s Subarus had somewhat similar adjusters on their rear brakes. I'd always meant to remove the rubber caps (covering that exposed threaded peg) before I got rid of my Subaru but didn't. I wonder if those covers are still available and if they'd fit the Girling adjuster....

Oh, one other caveat: these adjusters work in quarter-turn increments. In between those quarter-turns, it might seem like the adjuster is binding, so don't be fooled by that (in either direction).
 
I second Geo's note. I just picked up the wrench from Joe, along with his carb heat shield set up. Very well made. The wrench isn't critical, but it is easy to round off the square bolt on the brake adjuster if you aren't careful (I wasn't). As Andy noted, a little PBC or Liquid Wrench on it before hand if it is rusty can help.

There are more progressive steps to take to free up the drum, like removing the hand brake line to release the tension, also unscrewing or loosening the brake adjuster to give you some play, tapping on the drum with a mallet,etc. - worst case scenario the drum can be pulled with a hub puller but at that point you will need to buy a new brake pad hold-down kit at a minimum..

Randy
 
Yep, I agree. Joe's wrench is a nice item and is now being offered by TRF, too.

It's got a 7/16" square fitting on the opposite end, too, that fits the original style drain & fill plugs on the sump pan, gearbox and diff.

The ends of Joe's wrench are also angled a little, making it easier to get to these fittings than straight wrenches.

BTW, I bought a pair of brand spanking new adjusters last time the brakes on my TR4 were rebuilt. As it turned out - after cleaning them up and greasing them - the old (probably original) ones work fine, except for a little bit of rounding on the shoulders of the square fitting. That was due to using assorted open-end and adjustable wrenches - heck, maybe even Vice Grips at some point during my foolish youth - to adjust them over the years. So now I have a spare set... just in case I need them sometime in the *next* 30 years of TR4 ownership!

Oh, and with stuck brakes like that, you might also check that the parking brake cables are truly slackened. Sometimes the sticking is in the cables or pivot points, not the brake shoes. Of course, if you have already disconnected them, you can be sure it's not in the parking brake cables. If that's eliminated and it's the more usual cause of sticking where the shoes form a close bond with the drums, you might try thumping the side of the drums a few times with a rubber or plastic mallet. Maybe even slightly heating (carefully!) the sides of the drum with a propane torch would help. The levers that the parking brakes attach too, on the back side of the backing plate, also can be wiggled and tapped to move at least one shoe a little. Try a combination of the above, then reinstall the wheels & tire and try the rocking back and forth thing again. Repeat as necessary. Eventually, they'll pop loose... usually!

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cheers.gif
 
Another option is a set of 8 point sockets. Sears discontinued their 3/8 drive 8 points, but you can find them in new sets on EBay for a reasonable price. With these you get a socket for the brakes, one for the drain plug and a couple of others for whatever odd square headed fasteners end up in your collection.
 
[ QUOTE ]
As it turned out - after cleaning them up and greasing them - the old (probably original) ones work fine, except for a little bit of rounding on the shoulders of the square fitting.

[/ QUOTE ]

Agree +3.

When I rebuilt the rear brakes on our Spitfire, the adjusters were quite corroded and difficult to turn. I diassembled them, cleaned off the corrosion and assembled then with a coating of brake grease on contact surfaces. The work great now.

I tried loosening the adjuster w/o the proper wrench and nearly rounded it off. Bought the wrench for $10 from British Miles (local) and it works so much better.

Nothing like having the proper tool for the job. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif Of course, that also means I have filled 20 drawers worth of good sized Craftsman chest/rollaway with some $10K + worth of tools. Snap-on purchases are next... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
Nothing like having the proper tool for the job. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/hammer.gif Of course, that also means I have filled 20 drawers worth of good sized Craftsman chest/rollaway with some $10K + worth of tools. Snap-on purchases are next... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[/ QUOTE ]Indeed, the only Snap-on tool I've yet bought in almost 40 years of stocking my toolbox is the "spoke" wrench I use for brake adjusters. It's long enough to easily reach and provide leverage, and the deep jaws are perfect to keep from rounding that square peg. (Can't find it right now on the Snap-on web site and don't have the part number handy.)
 
Thanks everyone. I used a 1/4 socket and it worked! Rear wheels turn now, which I think will be a plus when I go to drive her!

Thanks again folks!
 
Back
Top