26-02-2019, 01:29 AM
(This post was last modified: 26-02-2019, 01:42 AM by Tony Press.)
Front Brake Return Spring .
With the Austin Seven front brakes, there is often a problem with making sure the levers return fully to ‘off’, to prevent the Brakes from dragging when turning.
One way to assist with this is to add a short external tension spring to the brake lever, one end hooked around the neck of the ball end of the Brake Lever, the other attached to a hole drilled in the backing plate.
Another better way is to make up two special long cotter pin as shown below.
Brake cotter for spring.jpg (Size: 8.76 KB / Downloads: 202)
A piece of 5/16” dia. rod about 4” (102mm) long is turned eccentrically one end and threaded ¼” BSF with a filed taper flat as with the original cotter pin. The outer end of the pin has a couple of flats filed and a small hole drilled to accept one end a ‘pull of’ tension spring about 4” long. This 'cotter' is inserted into the front of each brake lever and the other end of the spring is stretched up and inserted in a hole drilled in the backing plate. You will have to experiment with the spring size, length and position to get a good return tension, but not so tight that the front brakes are difficult to apply.
A pair of these have been fitted to the Chummy since the 50's
With the Austin Seven front brakes, there is often a problem with making sure the levers return fully to ‘off’, to prevent the Brakes from dragging when turning.
One way to assist with this is to add a short external tension spring to the brake lever, one end hooked around the neck of the ball end of the Brake Lever, the other attached to a hole drilled in the backing plate.
Another better way is to make up two special long cotter pin as shown below.
Brake cotter for spring.jpg (Size: 8.76 KB / Downloads: 202)
A piece of 5/16” dia. rod about 4” (102mm) long is turned eccentrically one end and threaded ¼” BSF with a filed taper flat as with the original cotter pin. The outer end of the pin has a couple of flats filed and a small hole drilled to accept one end a ‘pull of’ tension spring about 4” long. This 'cotter' is inserted into the front of each brake lever and the other end of the spring is stretched up and inserted in a hole drilled in the backing plate. You will have to experiment with the spring size, length and position to get a good return tension, but not so tight that the front brakes are difficult to apply.
A pair of these have been fitted to the Chummy since the 50's