which springs for TR7 shoes in Wolseley 9'' drums

[Declan_Burns]

Roy,
The first link is very expensive on international postage-£23.50!!
Regards
Declan

[bmcecosse]

Most of us are in the UK (at the moment...) ....

[philthehill]

Whilst you may be able to find and fit the back plates from a MG TD to a Minor - as regards the brake drums that is a different matter.
The rear drum includes the splines for the half-shaft and the front drum whilst not having the splines is similar. And of course the wheels are located by 5 studs and not 4 as is the Minor.
A good idea but not so plausible as may be first thought
See 'e' bay iten No: 191097877415 for rear drum and item No: 111325770907 for front drum.

[bmcecosse]

I would use the 9" front drums ! Nothing else would fit the Minor hub/bolt spacing..... But I do think the car would be very much overbraked at the rear - great for handbrake turns though........

[tysonn]

Well I spent a couple of hours today swapping my front brakes for the Wolseley backplates and drums with new "Lockheed" moggy cylinders and springs and the MG shoes.Problem.The shoes are only just touching the drums with the adjusters at maximum?I wondered if maybe my drums were well worn although they didnt look it so tried my other pair ofdrums with the same result.I measured the drum wall thickness at 9.6mm which is pretty thick.The brand new mog drums I just removed are 7.5mm thick.I have several adjusters all in good nick and they all look the same.The only solution that came to mind was maybe mig a dollop of weld onto the non piston end of the shoe?Had to leave it as the wife reckoned I would have more fun taking her shopping so back to it in the morning.[frame][/frame]

[bmcecosse]

That's strange... I can barely get mine on the FIRST click! Maybe these MG shoes are not as long on the nose as W and TR7 shoes (which are identical) ? Do you have an old shoe to compare with? Are you sure you are running out of adjustment - or are the cam adjusters jamming against the shoe - and not being allowed to turn? Are the new Minor cylinders fitted with the larger fixing screw in the original hole in the backplate? Maybe you made the grooves for the adjusters a bit too deep (or were they there anyway on the MG shoes?) - although they look fine in that picture. In the past when working with worn shoes and drums - I have simply hooked a 'shim' over the dead end of the cylinder - shim ends are hooked round so no chance of escaping - but held with the shoe tail anyway. But I do suspect the problem is adjuster jamming. Turn them with the drum off to see what happens.

[tysonn]

Well theyre all the same and hopeless as I am even I couldnt get all 4 wrong.No theyre in right.Yes large bolt in original hole.The grooves for the adjusters were already there.I'll take them all off in the morning and see what the score is.As you say I'll be able to cobble up some method of making them bigger.I'll also measure the length of the old(actually they were new)shoes to compare.

[bmcecosse]

Stick the old shoes on - is ok with them?

[tysonn]

Roy my old(new shoes)are from the 8" drums.Just on with this.I removed the drums and the adjusters and made sure they were on correctly,which they were.I have taken some measurements which I'll post up shortly.I am in the process of making up some shims to go in the non piston end of the cylinders.

[tysonn]

Well I tried a sliver of 18g steel on the non piston end of each cylinder long enough to bend upwards at the ends towards the cylinder.Still not enough adjustment.The shoes were barely touching the drum.Certainly not close enough and no adjustment left for wear.I ended up welding a 2-3mm bead on the ends of the shoe which has now given me adjustment.One thought that came to mind(and I was at this stage sick of removing the stuff to give a definite)was that the machined groove in the cylinder casting on these new "Lockheed)cylinders did look extremely deep!Of course a mm or two on each would make a dramatic difference to the available adjustment.I do need to measure these properly sometime but I'll leave it till I get back the will to live.I took a few measurements of different shoes including the TR7 rears I didnt use(which BTW have no semi circular cutout to go around an adjuster so one would need to be filed.
Length of the metal part of the shoe from very end to end measured across the friction area
MG 297mm
TR7 305mm

Length of friction area
MG 225mm
TR7 240mm

That 8mm difference in length is quite a difference and probably explains why you just get it on one click Roy.

I realise that neither the MG or TR shoes slot right in(hardly surprising as they werent made to go in the Wolseley drum)but I think if I ever need to replace the shoes there would be less work to make the MG ones work(a thicker shim or weld) than the TR(grind a few mm off each long edge and create a half moon for the adjuster).Although the TR shoes are less than half the price of the MG shoes.

[bmcecosse]

Good research there! It didn't take me long to modify my TR7 shoes -they were bought a while back and were incredibly cheap - so I had nothing to lose. They are EXACTLY the same length and profile etc as the Wolseley shoes - so yes - I had to reduce the width slightly and make an indent for the adjuster - trusty angle grinder did the job on all 4 shoes (including 'learning curve' ) - in an hour. I used the car today for a decent run - using the brakes hard and often, and they are spot-on - pulling up straight and firm every time with not the slightest sign of fading. Well pleased! The other idea that crossed my mind is - do you have the larger 8" shoe adjusters ?

[tysonn]

Yes Roy.I did take a pic of the 2 sizes to post here but it came out very dark.The 8" adjuster is quite a bit bigger.Not to worry its done now.

[bmcecosse]

As long as you have a good working set of brakes... have you tried them out 'in anger' yet?

[mike.perry]

Doesn't anybody reline brake shoes? I have a box full of old assorted shoes just in case, one day they may be on an exchange basis.
When I fitted my Wolseley brakes I only had two return springs so I fitted one on each drum at the front on the further holes and Morris springs at the back of the drum on the close holes, seems to work. Anyone got any spare Wolseley springs?

[bmcecosse]

A spring is a spring - I don't think it needs to be too specific - as long as it is approx. the right length and doesn't foul on the cylinder, or anything else. But fit same each side to maintain the balance.