hand brake Hand Brake Modificaion

[Parkerscottages]

The 4A hand brake, as we all know is a pain, to get any kind of leverage from unless you have a very strong left arm. I think that I may have seen an article in a past TRAction on how to modify the arm of the hand brake to gain better leverage.

Is this correct and has anyone out there tried this with positive results?

thanks 

Richard

[RogerH]

Hi Richard,

you can extend the arm on the brake back plate with something like this  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Triumph-Stag-TR4a-TR5-TR6-2000-2500-Pair-hand-brake-improver/353077638784?fits=Car+Make%3ATriumph&hash=item5235113680:g:9boAAOSwHMJYEKBA   or make your own

This gives about an extra 25% of pull.

Also you can move the hole on the hand brake (that holds the cable cleat) nearer to the pivot bolt.  This is standard on the TR6.

This will almost double the effective force.

 

And YES - it does work very very well.

You do need to keep the shoes adjusted.

Roger

[Parkerscottages]

I have ordered a set and see how it goes, tks

[Rawls]

As Roger says, if move the hole on the hand brake lever it really does make a big difference and is an easy no cost improvement.

Mike

 

[Parkerscottages]

Hi Roger, would you be ble to send a simple drawing of where to drill the hole on the handbarake?, Tks

 

[RogerH]

Hi Richard,

see attached pic.

When you have the handle in your hand it will become obvious that it can only go in one place.

 

Roger

[Tr4aJim]

Here’s a picture I saved from a past discussion on this forum. Apologies to the original poster.

Jim

 

[tim hunt]

You're welcome Jim

Tim

[Andy Moltu]

There are a couple of things to check before adding the lever extensions which I do recommend- have them on both TRs and the Stag.

Check the cables as old ones lose their elasticity and means the tension isn’t maintained when pull the brake on and settling back on the tooth of the ratchet.

Make sure the handbrake levers haven’t worn a groove in the back plate, if they have the lever will effectively be exerting its force on just one brake shoe. A dab of weld to build up and grind flat will help both shoes to press on the drum.

 

[Z320]

Hi,

with the gearbox out I thought it is a good idea to make the modification on the handbrake leaver.

If well recommended and standard on the TR6 everything should work fine?

With the drill closer to the pivot point the leaver is shorter and pulls stronger on the cable - indeed, that's the case.

But the way you can pull on the cables is much shorter by this modification!

With all the play adjusted to zero it was anyway not possible to get the brake tight.

This may be caused by a longer way needed by my BMW handbrake modification.

The leaver was stopped in its way "up" by touching the connector piece #14, like a "overdo" hinge.

If you do this modification you should have some attention on that point.

What I did was to go back to the TR4A setup, to the lower original drill to get more way again.

Ciao, Marco

Edited May 23, 2020 by Z320

[qkingston]

As a matter of interest, I was working on the handbrake as part of the rebuild and managed to snap of the end of the bent rod which goes down from the button to the pawl. Having established that even RTR can't supply a replacement anymore, I have obtained a good Spitfire SH replacement item, which looks to be dimensionally exact with the TR4a, except the rod is straight and the pawl/ratchet arrangement is slightly different. However if I retain the Spitfire innards is there any reason this wouldn't work on the 4a?

Regards

David

[stuart]

1 hour ago, qkingston said:

As a matter of interest, I was working on the handbrake as part of the rebuild and managed to snap of the end of the bent rod which goes down from the button to the pawl. Having established that even RTR can't supply a replacement anymore, I have obtained a good Spitfire SH replacement item, which looks to be dimensionally exact with the TR4a, except the rod is straight and the pawl/ratchet arrangement is slightly different. However if I retain the Spitfire innards is there any reason this wouldn't work on the 4a?

Regards

David

Thats probably not a flyoff then. Same as TR5/6 type.

Stuart.