Late type front brakes only… fitted to cars built after approx June 1950, that is those with two steering idlers.
Brakes built up incorrectly causing poor braking and dragging of the brakes.
Owners of cars with this type of front brake should check that the brakes have been built up correctly. Many of these brakes have been assembled incorrectly especially by foreign specialists.
The STOP PIN fits through the FRONT brake shoe operating fork and abuts across the edges of the hydraulic cylinder, and this is the case whether the brake is left or right hand. This stop pin is much longer than the clevis pin fitted in the fork of the trailing shoe at the other end of the cylinder. The brake leading shoe cut out then locates on the half circular section of the stop pin.
A clevis pins fits through the rear fork and the trailing brake shoe cut out locates on the half circular section of the clevis pin.
A few minutes study will show what problems and dangers can arise when these positions are switched, and many have been.
I have also seen many occasions when the "W" shaped anchor for the cylinder end shoe return spring has not been located in the hole of the steel strip behind the cylinder. This anchor should pass through the brake shoe, one end accepts the return spring the other locates into the hole in the steel strip which is trapped between the cylinder and backplate.
Note the correct relationship of the parts shown in the accompanying images, which do not appear in either the Workshop or Parts Manuals or Service Handbook. It is important to beware of the few images of these components in the manuals many of which are incorrectly shown or mirror imaged.
In some cases, particularly when the later modified front brake forks (see other technical listing on this subject) have not been fitted, the leading brake shoe will tilt. This action with other misalignments causes a dimple of wear to take place on the outer edge of the front hydraulic cylinder and the stop pin will lift off the inside edge of the cylinder. If this situation is not corrected the tilt will cause the edge of the leading shoe to contact the vertical inside section of the front brake drum when the car is driven around bends. Obviously the brake lining also does not contact the drum squarely when the brakes are used. The metal-to-metal contact can be heard as a rubbing sound from the front brakes. In these cases it is possible to remove the front hydraulic cylinder and just machine the forward edge of the cylinder in order that the stop pin rests squarely across the cylinder front face. It is important to keep such machining to a minimum as the amount which can be removed is very limited.
