kiwi-jim Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Hi can anyone post a photo or describe the correct position of the backplate on the rear axle of a girling setup. I.e. are the hole/slots for the handbrake lever and cyclinder verticle or angled or horizontal. after all there are 6 holes to move the backplate around on. In one manual I have it looks as thought the lever slot is vertical, on a photo of Meno"s rear axle it looks as though its angled at around 45degrees. Thanks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Menno van Rij Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 Hello, Perhaps this will help: a 'before' picture of the backplate with all things attached / still in place. As far as I know, it's the original (factory) set up. Menno Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kiwi-jim Posted August 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 thanks Menno, when I logged onto your website I thought your set up looked right but the manuals all show different orientation, even the moss catalogue shows the parts in a vertical orientation, but thats probably for the convenience of displaying the parts. Not having stripped the axle originally I wasn't sure exactly how it went back together Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Elliott Posted August 27, 2008 Report Share Posted August 27, 2008 See my early TR3A with 10" diameter brakes. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kiwi-jim Posted August 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 Thanks Don I can see where we are now with yours and menno's photos. I assume it is a straight foreward assembly job of all the rear brakes is there any part or tricks to be aware of? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
stuart Posted August 28, 2008 Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 Thanks Don I can see where we are now with yours and menno's photos. I assume it is a straight foreward assembly job of all the rear brakes is there any part or tricks to be aware of? Jim just make sure that the adjuster is nicely greased up and the adjusting square end isnt chewed and make sure that the cylinder slides nicely in its slot. Stuart. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
james christie Posted August 28, 2008 Report Share Posted August 28, 2008 Make sure the back plate is bolted up to the axle in the right position - I got it wrong some 28 years ago and the result was an interesting moment when the rear brakes locked up 'cos the hand brake cable hit the body work while going over a railway crossing at an imprudent speed Quote Link to post Share on other sites
kiwi-jim Posted August 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 Stuart, James, Thanks for that I'm just waiting on a couple of bits to arrive from america and then I can start the assembly. The restoration has been a bit slow this year so far while we have been building but I'm hoping to get a bit more done now we are heading into spring and the warmer weather. Cheers Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Richardtr3a Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 I do not know how I missed this thread. I have had a 3 year struggle with the 10" back brakes. I managed to cure the 20 year old oil seal problem by a super sleeve on the half shaft. I had previously had a replacement half shaft which had no holes for the drum locating screws and I think may have come from some other car. The garage fitting the shaft also changed the shoes and disposed of my old shoes, and my problems began. The new shoes are no good. After a lot of research and a gift of some old shoes it has become clear that the new shoes are a different radius. Not a great difference but enough to mean the linings dragging on the drum. My car is now adjusted so the there is no drag at all and this is three clicks on the adjuster from lock up which is one more than the hand book. The wheels revolve very smoothly but the downside is that the handbrake is a bit weak. I have new cables and spent hours fiddling with the adjustment . Now I have the wheels revolving smoothly and the cable adjusted so that the pin just slips into the connector at the backplate end. Any further tightening of the cable brings back the drag. I always leave it in gear. When it comes to MOT I have to make the adjustment at the last possible moment. The pictures in the manuals show a very short lining on the shoe but it is not clear if this is the 9" or the 10" option. My next move is to derust the old shoes and try them without any attempt to reline or interfere with the linings. I notice that the TR3 in rebuilders diaries, Johann Eichert, has been having some problems in this area. I do not know how to share my experiences with him. After all this subject is quite esoteric. Please let me know how you get on. Richard Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Elliott Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 You can take your drums and your linings to any good brake shop and they can make the linings "true" to mate correctly with the inside diameter of your drums. The linings you see in my photo above were bonded to my original shoes. At 80,300 miles the original linings from new were oily so I had a brake/clutch shop bond on the new shoes shown. These have done me well with no issues over the last 19 years and they now have 100,000 miles on them. They still look like new as most of the braking is acheived by the front disk brakes. I believe that one of the two cables across the rear of the rear axle for adjusting the handbrake cable set-up is 1/2" shorter than the other. Check this out and if you can, you might be able to chase a die to up the threads to put more threads on the extending rods to shorten one of the cables if this is the case. Maybe the short one was put onto the whong side. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Richardtr3a Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 Thanks for the reply Don. You did absolutely the right thing in having your own shoes relined. I have lost my original shoes in the garage mess up. I have offered up the new shoes from a proper TR dealer against the old stock ones which I have, and the diameter is different. The old stock were a gift and I am going to clean them up and install them without relining. At present the cables are adjusted so that the clevis pin will slip into place with out altering the position of the shoes , which are now free running. The cables are on the correct sides. If I make the main cable to the lever any shorter even a few turns of the adjuster, the shoes move and there is drag again. At present the drums do not get hot. At one time I could go 4 miles without braking and the drums would be too hot to touch. At least that has gone away. My hope is that the old shoes are ST issue and will give me more handbrake. I am very impressed with your local brake shop who can match linings to drums. As far as I know there is no such factor in my area. I have to replace the indicator switch before we go back to the brakes again. I have solved the battery boiling with which you also had a problem. Thank you for the suggestions. Richard Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Don Elliott Posted August 31, 2008 Report Share Posted August 31, 2008 Richard - Now I remember better than an hour ago. The 1/2" longer / shorter cable mentioned above is not from side to side. It is related to the 9" brakes vs the 10" brakes. One cable is 1/2" different from one to another. I still can't remember which. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.